Former Prosecutor With 2 Criminal Cases in 2 Counties Free on $1,250 Bail

JOLIET, IL — A former prosecutor and candidate for state’s attorney is out of jail after posting bail for two cases in two counties.

Elizabeth Johnson, 34, faces a felony cocaine case in Grundy County and a misdemeanor case in Will County for allegedly resisting sheriff’s deputies. She also skipped court for the Will County charge and was wanted on a no-bound warrant when she was picked up on the coke case Christmas Eve at Honest Abe’s Tap & Grill in Morris.

Johnson was first booked into the Grundy County jail but was freed on $500 bail, according to court records. She also went to the Will County jail but was released on $750 bail. Johnson was in the Will County jail last month too but was let out on her own recognizance.

Johnson was locked up that time for allegedly scuffling with Will County deputies. The deputies were trying to escort Johnson away from the home of her boyfriend, who had called the cops on her because she wouldn’t stop pounding on his door, police said.

When she was arrested that time, Johnson was also charged with possessing marijuana after deputies found 10 grams of it in her father’s Camaro, police said. The Camaro was stuck in the mud in a ditch near her boyfriend’s Lockner Boulevard home.

The boyfriend, 35-year-old Michael Haldorson, is on home detention while he faces drug and weapon charges in federal court. He was caught with cocaine, ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms and pipe bombs while on his way to a drug deal, a federal agent said, and he had a pistol stashed in a storage locker.

Johnson represented Haldorson on the federal case for nearly a year. She has since withdrawn as his attorney.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office passed off Johnson's misdemeanor case to a special prosecutor from the Illinois Attorney General's Office. Johnson is scheduled to appear in court on both her Grundy and Will County cases next month.

Johnson was a Will County prosecutor until September 2011. She was hired by the state’s attorney’s office after completing its special drug court program.

“Life was spinning out of control. And (Johnson) knew a felony conviction would prevent her from attending law school and becoming a lawyer. It had been her dream career since she was a girl and she would dress up with an old briefcase while pretending to be in court,” the state’s attorney’s office said in a 2011 press release.

“In the ultimate validation for the program, State’s Attorney (James) Glasgow, the same prosecutor whose office filed the felony charge against her when she was a teenager, recently welcomed her back to his office, this time as a new assistant state’s attorney in his misdemeanor division,” the press release said.

Johnson also ran for Grundy County State’s Attorney in the last election. Her campaign ended in a primary defeat.

Two months after the primary, Johnson was charged with taking off from an accident she caused when she crashed her truck into the back of another vehicle.

The other driver, Dawn Brunker, said Johnson boasted of her legal background and claimed she didn’t have to provide any information.

“She knew the law and she was a lawyer and didn't need to give me her insurance info or name,” said Brunker, who told Patch she snapped a cell phone photo of Johnson before she drove away.

Johnson’s traffic cases remain pending.

image via Will County Sheriff's Department