Crystal Lake man accused of setting election signs on fire pleads guilty in separate case of hitting jailer

A Crystal Lake man accused of setting campaign signs on fire the morning polls opened in the 2022 primary election pleaded guilty Tuesday to striking a corrections officer in McHenry County jail.

Frank Bjorn Held, 23, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery of a corrections officer, a Class 2 felony. He was sentenced to three years in prison, according to a judgment order filed in McHenry County court. He is required to serve half his prison term followed by one year mandatory supervised release, the order said.

In exchange for his guilty plea, additional counts of aggravated battery, battery and resisting a police officer were dismissed, the order said.

His attorney, Brian Stevens, described Held as a “very respectful and intelligent young man” who struggled with alcohol addiction.

“His struggles with addiction were many, and that led to a lot of poor choices made in a relatively short period,” Stevens said.

A separate case in which Held was accused of setting campaign signs of Tony Colatorti and Sheriff Robb Tadelman on fire June 28, 2022, in Veterans Acres Park also was dismissed, the order said. Colatorti, an Algonquin restaurant owner, and Tadelman were at the time running in the Republican primary for sheriff, an election Tadelman won.

The day after Held was arrested, he posted $10,000 bond and was released. On Sept. 3, 2023, he was arrested and charged with battery of a Crystal Lake police officer and of three other people at a local restaurant, though those were among the charges dropped in the plea deal, official records show.

The charge to which he pleaded guilty Tuesday alleges that just after 6 a.m. Sept. 3, 2023, while in the jail he “struck or punched” a corrections officer in the face, the indictment said. The indictment further alleges he fractured the officer’s nose, caused bleeding from his mouth and nose and swelling to his face. He also is accused of digging his fingers into the officer’s hand.

Stevens said Judge Tiffany Davis found that Held’s offenses were committed as a result of, in part, to abuse of alcohol. She made a recommendation to the Illinois Department of Corrections that Held be placed in a substance abuse program.

“Hopefully, the [prison] programs, coupled with his strong family support system, will help this young man to put the legal difficulties caused be alcohol behind him,” Stevens said.