Streator man charged with 7 death threats

A Streator man was charged Monday with threatening to kill three La Salle County judges, three prosecutors and the public defender.

Joseph A. Call, 36, was charged with seven counts of threatening a public official, a Class 3 felony carrying a possible prison sentence of two to five years.

According to court reports unsealed Monday, Call is alleged to have taken to social media on May 3 and 6 to utter death threats against Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr., Circuit Judge Cynthia M. Raccuglia and Associate Judge Michael C. Jansz; La Salle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro and two assistant state’s attorneys, Kelley Porter and Ryan Cantlin; and Public Defender Ryan Hamer.

Call was expected to appear Tuesday in La Salle County Circuit Court, but was a no show. Court dates are pending.

Navarro confirmed that he, as one of the victims Call is alleged to have targeted, was obliged to turn the case over to a special prosecutor. Navarro said that was done and an attorney from the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office will enter an appearance in Call’s case.

Navarro otherwise declined comment on a pending case.

Still to be settled is which judge will handle the case. None of the targeted judges can preside over Call’s trial and, because Ryan presides over the three-county circuit, authorities might have to send for a visiting judge outside the circuit to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Mental health records are sealed but La Salle County court records show Call was found unfit to stand trial in at least two cases, most recently on Feb. 23 of this year in a domestic battery case.