McHenry man gets 2 years in prison for threatening to ‘headbutt’ cop; also accused of stealing from bar

A McHenry man who pleaded guilty to threatening to “headbutt” a Harvard police officer and break his jaw was sentenced to a two-year prison term.

Austin Gehrke, 32, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of threatening a public official, a Class 3 felony. He is required to serve half of his prison time followed by six months of mandatory supervised release. He also was sentenced to two days in the county jail, according to the judgment order in McHenry County court.

In exchange for the guilty plea, other charges were dismissed, including an additional count of threatening a public official and criminal damage to property. He will get credit for 48 days served in the county jail. The judge found that the offense was committed as a result of the use or abuse of alcohol or controlled substance and recommended that Gehrke receive treatment while incarcerated, the judgment order shows.

Also dismissed was an additional, unrelated case filed against Gehrke in July while he was on pretrial release in the Harvard case. In the July case, he was charged by Woodstock police with burglary, a Class 2 felony, and misdemeanor theft, the criminal complaint shows. He also was cited with an ordinance violation of possessing/consuming alcohol in public, to which he pleaded guilty Aug. 2 and was fined $150, records show.

Thursday’s guilty plea is related to an incident that occurred about 10 p.m. Nov. 23, when police responded to a 911 call Gehrke made reporting domestic violence. Gehrke allegedly was hostile and threatened to “headbutt” and break the jaw of the responding officer, according to a criminal complaint and the indictment.

While Gehrke was out of the county jail on pretrial release in the Harvard case, he was charged in the Woodstock case. Gehrke and Cory D. Feezel, 42, listed in court documents as being homeless in Woodstock and also from Arkansas, were accused of stealing two bottles of alcohol. They also were accused of obtaining ”unauthorized control over” a cash register from a Ortmann’s Red Iron Tavern.

The two men were found by a Woodstock police officer about midnight July 1 “passed out ... from expected intoxication” at the Woodstock train station, police said. They were found with a open bottles of Tullamore Dew whiskey and a bottle of Maker’s Mark whiskey having a total value not exceeding $500 nearby, according to the criminal complaints.

The locked metal drawer part of the register, which holds the cash, was recovered near the train depot. It was damaged but still locked and had a “small amount of change in the drawer,” Woodstock Police Chief John Lieb said.

When Gehrke was charged in the Harvard case, he was on court supervision for a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia, records show. Feezel’s case still is pending, records show.