A convicted scam artist and wannabe rapper is now facing felony charges for allegedly threatening a top aide to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
Eric “Chicago Blaxican” Jaglicic appeared in bond court Friday morning after prosecutors charged him with felony counts of threatening a public official, intimidation, and electronic harassment.
Jaglicic is accused of threatening Raoul’s chief deputy in a series of emails and videos.
In the bond hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said Jaglicic sent multiple emails to the chief deputy asking for his office to launch a wrongful prosecution investigation to clear his name in connection with a fraud scheme that earned Jaglicic a six-year prison term in 2008.
Raoul’s deputy chief recently declined to open an investigation, saying he was not convinced by the evidence Jaglicic presented. Then, the content of Jaglicic’s emails “went from desperate and disgruntled to angry and threatening,” Murphy said.
Jaglicic’s emails included name-calling and contained links to threatening videos, Murphy said. One allegedly threatening video included a photo of a building that appears to be the deputy chief’s residence, according to Murphy.
Last Friday, Jaglicic allegedly gave the deputy chief until noon on Wednesday, July 22, to resolve the situation, or he’d go “directly to [former Illinois Attorney General] Lisa Madigan’s house with my people. If I die, it is OK. I died for a good cause.” Jaglicic’s email “mentions dangerous people he works for and says they will go to great lengths to harm Lisa Madigan’s family,” Murphy said.
Jaglicic allegedly sent the deputy chief reminder emails about the deadline on July 18 and 19.
On Wednesday, the day of the reported deadline, Jaglicic turned himself in to officers at the Town Hall District police station after someone informed him that a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
During an interview with detectives, he admitted to sending emails to the deputy chief. Still, he claimed that someone hacked into the messages after they were sent to add threatening content, according to Murphy.
Scott Finger, a public defender who represented Jaglicic in court Friday, said Jaglicic claims to have a personal relationship with Chicago Police Supt. David Brown. Finger pointed to Brown’s appearance in one of Jaglicic’s recent music videos as “proof” of the relationship.
As CWBChicago reported Thursday, Brown’s appearance in the video amounted to nothing more than surveillance camera footage of the superintendent arriving at Jaglicic’s home and sitting in his recording studio where Jaglicic had recorded interviews with an alderman, a judge, and a community activist.
When CWBChicago inquired about the video on July 3, the Chicago Police Department declined to say why Brown was at Jaglicic’s home. A department spokesperson said markings on police equipment that Jaglicic used in his music videos “do not look authentic.” A source said Jaglicic filmed the video on a lot where the “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago PD” television shows store props.
Before setting Jaglicic’s bail at $1 million, Judge John Lyke said the allegations “shock the conscious of someone to be this brazen, if this indeed did happen.” Lyke ordered Jaglicic to go on electronic monitoring if he can post the mandatory $100,000 deposit bond.
Jaglicic’s lawyer said he is a 40-year-old music producer who formed “Operation Chicago LLC” to “bring police and community together…He’s trying to make change in the community and build trust between police and the community.”
Jaglicic pleaded guilty in 2008 to swindling $1.6 million from people who thought they were investing in an Adam Sandler movie called “The Record Deal.” During the earlier case, prosecutors said was no such movie project existed, and Jaglicic used the money for his own purposes.
He also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in connection with the case, resulting in an additional two-year sentence that was served concurrently with the six-year term he received for the securities fraud case.
The movie scam was the focus of a 2014 installment of CNBC’s “American Greed” crime series.
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