Former Prosecutor, Drug Court Graduate, Charged With Possessing Drugs

JOLIET, IL — A former Will County prosecutor who recently ran for Grundy County State’s Attorney was arrested for scuffling with the cops after pounding on her boyfriend’s door, police said.

Elizabeth Johnson, 34, was jailed early Monday morning on charges of resisting and obstructing police. Johnson was also charged with possessing marijuana after Will County deputies found 10 grams of it in her father’s Camaro, police said.

The Camaro was stuck in the mud in a ditch near the Lockner Boulevard home of Johnson’s boyfriend, Michael Haldorson. 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 represents Haldorson on the federal case but probably won’t for much longer. She filed notice of a motion to withdraw some time after she was released from the county jail about 5:30 a.m. Monday. She also referred to Haldorson as her “ex-boyfriend” while speaking to a deputy at the scene of the alleged disturbance, police said.

Johnson has been representing Haldorson in federal court for nearly a year. Just last week, she convinced a federal judge to let him leave his home and go to his sister’s house for Thanksgiving and to spend last Saturday afternoon at his uncle’s place in Wilmington.

Haldorson called the cops on Johnson about 3 a.m., police said. When deputies arrived, they reportedly found her “pounding on the door,” which Haldorson said she had been doing for about an hour.

Johnson had been in the house earlier, and she and Haldorson argued, police said.

Deputies attempted to escort away Johnson, who smelled of alcohol, and she resisted, police said.

Johnson was released from jail on her own recognizance.

Johnson left her job as a Will County prosecutor in September 2011. She had been the poster child for the state’s attorney’s special drug court when she was hired as a prosecutor after completing the program.

“Life was spinning out of control. And she 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’s campaign for Grundy County State’s Attorney ended with her defeat in the March primary.

In May, 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.

Photo via Will County Sheriff's Department