Bob Crimo Threatened With Contempt Over Shirt As He Reports To Jail

WAUKEGAN, IL — The father of the accused Highland Park parade shooter turned himself in to begin serving his nearly two-month jail sentence Wednesday while wearing a T-shirt declaring himself to be a "political pawn."

Bob Crimo pleaded guilty earlier this month to recklessly signing off on his then-19-year-old son's gun license application, allowing him to buy the guns he's accused of using to shoot more than 50 people, seven fatally, from a downtown Highland Park rooftop two and a half years later.

Prosecutors agreed to reduce the seven felony counts — one for each slain paradegoer — to misdemeanors in exchange for Crimo's guilty plea, which he entered Nov. 6, the morning he was scheduled to stand trial before Lake County Associate Judge George Strickland.

Crimo was sentenced to 60 days in the Lake County Jail, two years of probation and 100 hours of community service. With good behavior, he could be released in 30 days. Strickland allowed him to wait until Wednesday to turn himself in and begin his sentence.

The rear of Crimo's apparently customized white "I'm a political pawn" t-shirt said, "LAWS FACTS REALITY."

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Once inside the Waukegan courtroom, Strickland reportedly confronted Crimo over the shirt, which had at that point been turned inside out, and threatened to hold him in contempt for violating his courtroom rules.

The decorum order in the case allows the judge to hold anyone in contempt for any conduct he "finds disruptive or interruptive of the proceedings." It also specifically includes rules about attire.

"Any spectator," the order says, "who is wearing any item on his or her person or exhibiting a sign which, in the opinion of the Court, may influence any juror or affect the orderly administration of these proceedings will not be permitted in the courthouse or courtroom during these proceedings."

Crimo told Strickland he had not read the rules, which the judge described as "very interesting," the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart reportedly said Crimo's shirt indicates he may not understand what he has done and does not feel remorse.

“I think we’ve learned a lot about how Mr. Crimo looks at this case,” Rinehart said, according to the Sun-Times.

Related: No 'Secret Evidence' In Bob Crimo Trial: Judge Declines To Seal Son's Interrogation Tape

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Related: Guilty Plea From Dad Of Accused Highland Park Parade Mass Shooter

Crimo admitted, as part of the plea, that he was aware that his son had sent suicidal text messages a few months before the state police FOID sponsorship affidavit he signed, that Highland Park police had investigated reports of his son's threats and suicidal thoughts and that his son had "expressed an interest" in carrying out a mass shooting four or five years earlier.

As part of Crimo's plea deal, he must surrender his own firearm owners identification, or FOID, card, and he must not sponsor any more FOID cards for minors in the future.

A trial date for Crimo's son is due to be scheduled during his next appearance Dec. 11. He faces 48 counts of attempted murder and aggravated battery and 21 counts of first-degree murder, three for each of the seven people fatally shot at the parade — Katie Goldstein, Irina McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, Stephen Straus, Jacki Sundheim, Nicolás Toledo and Eduardo Uvaldo.