Crime & Safety
Man Threatened To 'Blow Up' Meijer In McHenry: Police
The man is accused of telling a 911 dispatcher he planned to blow up the local grocery store.
A McHenry man, who was charged last year with hitting a pedestrian with his car at the Meijer in McHenry, is now wanted for calling in a bomb threat earlier this month to the same store.
John K. Petko Jr., 50, of the 1800 block of South Route 31 in McHenry, was charged with false alarm or complaint to 911, a Class 4 felony. A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court alleges Petko called 911 on October 1 for the purpose of making a false alarm.
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Petko allegedly told the dispatcher, “John Petko is going to blow up Meijer, McHenry Illinois.”
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“The defendant knew there were no reasonable grounds for making the call and further knew that the call could result in the emergency response of a public safety agency,” the complaint said.
A McHenry County judge signed off on an arrest warrant for Petko on Thursday, court records show.
In June 2020, Petko was charged with leaving the scene of an accident with injury and failure to report an accident.
The McHenry Police Department said at the time that Petko struck a 60-year-old man with his vehicle in the parking lot of the same Meijer store, located at 2253 North Richmond Road.
Petko’s vehicle also struck the Meijer building during the incident and he allegedly fled the scene in his Ford Taurus.
Officers located Petko on foot a short time later near Route 120 and Front Royal Drive and arrested him.
The victim in the crash was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry with non-life-threatening injuries.
Petko is not in police custody yet, and an active warrant remains for his arrest in the latest case.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner is a local breaking news website covering issues that matter such as shootings, stabbings, house fires, kidnappings, car accidents, and more around Lake County and McHenry County.
