Felon with ‘lengthy criminal history’ gets 6 years for cocaine possession in McHenry County case

A felon with a “lengthy criminal history” pleaded guilty in McHenry County Monday to unlawful possession of cocaine and was sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Theodore King, 36, who lists a Marengo address in court documents and a Chicago address in jail records, is required to serve half his prison time followed by one year of mandatory release. He is receiving credit for 516 days in the county jail, the judgment order filed in McHenry County court said.

In exchange for his plea of guilty to the Class 1 felony, additional counts were dismissed, including more serious Class X charges of manufacturing and delivery 15 to 100 grams each of cocaine and fentanyl. Also dismissed was a charge of being a felon in possession brass knuckles and a switchblade, possessing less than 15 grams of fentanyl and resisting a police officer, court records show. King was convicted in 2014 in Cook County of being an armed habitual criminal, the indictment shows, making it illegal for him to possess any weapons.

In the current McHenry County case, King was arrested on the morning of Nov. 2, 2023, and was accused of resisting arrest or obstructing authorities when he “refused to exit his vehicle after being told to do so numerous times ... and continued to reach towards his waistband multiple times after being told not to do so,” according to the criminal complaint.

In arguing that King be detained in jail pretrial during his initial hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Shelby Page detailed what led to King’s arrest, as well as his “lengthy criminal history,” which Page said included “violent felonies such as armed habitual criminal, aggravated vehicular highjack using firearm and armed robbery with a firearm.”

She said in his current case, King was in the possession of a baggie containing 28.8 grams of cocaine and fentanyl, and when he was brought to the county jail, officers found he had three bags of fentanyl in his possession.

At his home, police found “multiple digital scales ... in numerous rooms, including the defendant’s room and kitchen drawer,” Page said. Police also found cutting materials, and the switchblade and brass knuckles on a nightstand near his bed.

The prosecutor said the sheriff’s narcotic task force had received “multiple tips” in recent years that King “was involved in the sale of illicit substances, specifically crack cocaine. The defendant is well known by the narcotics task force to be involved in the sale of crack cocaine.”

Page detailed how, in 2019, police executed a search warrant at King’s residence and allegedly found 7.16 grams of crack cocaine along with two digital scales and cash in various denomination. In this 2019 case, Page said, King attempted to destroy or conceal evidence by throwing the cocaine out the window. While being taken into custody during that incident, King allegedly kicked a deputy. He was convicted in this case of possessing cocaine and sentenced to six years in prison. When arrested in his current case he was on parole for the 2019 case, Page said.

In 2023, Page said, Lakewood police attempted to stop a vehicle King was driving when he allegedly fled and was subsequently arrested for aggravated fleeing. He was out on pretrial release in this case when arrested in his current case, records show. This case, as well as a misdemeanor theft charge out of Harvard, were dismissed as part of Monday’s plea agreement, records show.

King’s attorney declined to comment.