Spring Grove man accused of intimidation, retaliation against McHenry County judge

A Spring Grove man who failed to appear in court on petty offenses is now accused of threatening a McHenry County judge and placing a $1.95 million “false lien” on his house, according to authorities and court records.

Leon Geng, 69, of the 2000 block of Sunset Road, is charged with intimidation, a Class 3 felony, and retaliating against a judge, according to a criminal complaint filed in McHenry County court.

Conviction on a Class 3 felony carries a sentencing range of five to 10 years in prison and also is probational.

Geng is accused of trying to use intimidation and the threat of a lien to prompt the judge to “quash a valid arrest warrant” against him, according to the criminal complaint on filed in the courthouse.

Geng appeared in a detention hearing Thursday before another judge, McHenry County Chief Judge Micheal Chmiel, after being arrested on a failure-to-appear warrant, issued this month for a case from March 2023.

In that case, Richmond police charged Geng with driving with a suspended license, a Class A misdemeanor; operating a motor vehicle with a suspended registration; operating an uninsured motor vehicle; and expired registration, complaints filed in the McHenry County court show.

A second hearing was held Thursday in a different courtroom before Lake County Judge Christopher Lombardo, who was assigned by the Illinois Supreme Court to preside over the case.

Assistant State’s Attorney Brian Miller said that when Geng was ordered to appear in court, he did not show and sent 10 letters to Judge Christopher Harmon, the judge assigned to Geng’s case, saying his “personal liberties were being violated.”

The letters, which appear in court records, also included fee payment schedules for money Geng claimed the judge owed him.

In the letters, which are notarized, Geng referred to himself as “a living man” and declared that he’s “a noncombatant working to peacefully restore our lawful government as an American State National,” according to the court records; he also wrote that he is “a man and a creation of God, am over the age of consent and of sound mind.”

The tickets issued to him by police are attached to the letters and on them he wrote, “I do not accept this offer” and “I do not consent to these proceedings.”

Geng not only threatened to place a lien against the judge’s home for $1,950,000 if he did not dismiss the charges against him, but Geng then acted on his threat, the prosecutor said.

Additionally, Miller said every letter Geng sent to Harmon, as well as the lien, was stamped, with a red thumb print.

Miller said Geng is a flight risk and motioned that he be detained pretrial.

However, Michael Zasadil, a public defender appointed for the detention hearing and whom Geng said he did not want to represent him, argued that Geng be released with conditions.

Zasadil said Geng does not have any criminal history, is retired and has lived in his home for almost 40 years.

Lombardo granted Geng’s release but with a stern warning that he had to show up to his future hearings, which he is allowed to attend via Zoom.

Lombardo said Geng will be under direct supervision of the court’s probation and court services. He is required to follow all conditions including not leaving the state, breaking any laws and having no contact with Harmon. Geng also is required to let any agent of the court into his home should they show up to verify he is compliant with conditions.