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| Shane Sleeper (inset) is accused of leveling a series of threats against Boystown bar workers | CPD; Google |
A Lakeview man issued a series of threats to Boystown bar employees over the past month and then ran from cops who tried to arrest him this week, according to prosecutors and police. Shane Sleeper, 31, has been served with four court orders of protection to shield his alleged victims, according to police.
In 2015, Sleeper was charged with battering his former boss at an Atlanta gay bar and “wreaking havoc” on the neighborhood—allegations that he said erupted “because I was the new hot guy in town.”
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| Sleeper is also accused of threatening an employee of Roscoe’s Tavern. |
Sleeper’s first arrest in Chicago came on February 3 when cops took him into custody near Halsted and Waveland for “making a shooting gesture” at a manager of Sidetrack, a bar located at 3349 North Halsted. He was charged with assault and released on a recognizance bond.
Cops from the 19th (Town Hall) District went to Sleeper’s apartment building in the 3500 block of North Lake Shore Drive around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday to arrest him on a series of outstanding warrants related to other alleged threats. Police say they encountered Sleeper in the lobby and he took off running through an emergency exit. Sleeper was taken into custody after a short foot chase, according to police records.
In the new charges, Sleeper is accused of
• Emailing a threat of violence to a Sidetrack manager on January 22
• Sending multiple emails with threats of violence to Sidetrack on January 29
• Threatening a man at the victim’s home on Feb 1 by saying “If you don’t kill yourself, I’m going to do it.”
• Sending a threat of violence via text message to an employee of Roscoe’s Tavern, 3356 North Halsted, on Feb 3
• Sending a threat of violence via Facebook to a Sidetrack employee on Feb 14.
Prosecutors charged him with four counts of misdemeanor electronic harassment; misdemeanor resisting police; misdemeanor assault; and misdemeanor phone harassment. Judge Anthony Calabrese set bail at $300,000, requiring a $30,000 deposit to leave jail before trial.
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| Sleeper being arrested in 2015 outside of Atlanta’s Ten Nightclub. | Project Q Atlanta |
“Atlanta is not used to honesty…”
Sleeper was arrested outside Atlanta’s Ten nightclub in May 2015 after he allegedly battered the bar’s owner, according to a report by Project Q Atlanta. According to the magazine:
[Ten owner James Nelson said] he fired Sleeper, a part-time bartender, in February, and that ever since, Sleeper has harassed former co-workers and patrons. Nelson said he sought a temporary restraining order against Sleeper but that it was never issued.
“We were trying to get him off the property, and he wouldn’t budge,” Nelson said. “He is just wreaking havoc on everyone in Midtown.”
Sleeper filed his own report alleging assault against the bar’s co-owner, Clint Billingsley, the magazine reported. The outcomes of the Atlanta cases were not available on Saturday.
But Sleeper insisted that he was not the source of trouble in Atlanta, telling Project Q:
“I am being made to be the not normal one because I am standing up for myself,” Sleeper said. “I pretty much got hated by all the staff at Ten the moment I got there because I was the new hot guy in town. There is so much into this, it is kind of ridiculous.”
“Atlanta is not used to honesty and that is why I clash with this city,” Sleeper added.
