Rapper, YouTube personality and convicted fraudster Blaxican allegedly made threats to several state officials in a series of emails and music videos because he felt he was unfairly prosecuted and had his possessions illegally seized.
Former Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Chief Deputy Attorney General Brent Stratton and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, were among some of the local notables allegedly targeted by Eric Jaglicic, also known as Blaxican.
In some of the messages and videos, Jaglicic, 40, threatened to kill Madigan, harm Madigan’s family and come to all three officials’ homes, Cook County prosecutors said.
“I take these threats extremely serious,” Judge John F. Lyke Jr. said Friday, upholding the $1 million bail initially set this week in a warrant for Jaglicic’s arrest.
“This literally is a head-scratcher and it shocks the conscious to be this brazen if this indeed happened.”
Jaglicic has a colorful history that includes a 2007 securities fraud conviction in DuPage County for bilking a group of suburban investors out of $1.6 million for an Adam Sandler movie titled “The Record Deal,” which Jaglicic claimed he was financing.
He also pleaded guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice in a related case in Will County around that time and was ultimately sentenced to 10 years in prison.
A 2008 report by the Chicago Sun-Times detailed items auctioned off from Jaglicic’s $500,000 Homer Glen home to pay back a portion of the money he stole, including Jaglicic’s pet alligators, “Danger” and “Dangerous,” a Hummer, an $8,000 shark tank and a $14,000 hot tub with a built in TV.
Jaglicic’s recent arrest stems from his anger over his prosecution by Madigan’s office in those cases and having his belongings taken from him, prosecutors said Friday.
Jaglicic told Stratton in emails he was owed millions of dollars and that he would use the money to fund his “Operation Chicago” plan to combat gun violence.
But the messages Jaglicic sent to Stratton in the past year went from “desperate and disgruntled” to “angry and threatening,” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.
In a YouTube video posted July 11, Jaglicic can be seen “holding what appears to be a sword” while a recorded robotic voiceover relays how Jaglicic would go to Stratton’s home, Murphy said.
Jaglicic allegedly went on, noting the neighborhood where Stratton lives and displaying a photo of Stratton’s home in the video.
Then a few days ago, Jaglicic told Stratton that if he didn’t address his prior cases by this week, Jaglicic would go to Madigan, Raoul and Stratton’s homes, Murphy said.
Jaglicic allegedly wrote in an email he did not expect to live after “moving IN FULL FORCE TO YOU ALL YOUR HOMES.”
He also wrote, “This is a very clear threat, warning, promise, and future” and “if I die, it is OK, I died for a good cause,” Murphy said.
Jaglicic additionally wrote that he knew dangerous people who would go to great lengths to harm Madigan’s family.
He also allegedly included in that message a link to a trailer for “Operation Chicago” — a movie Jaglicic wrote, directed and starred in — that shows him in a straitjacket talking about killing politicians, including Madigan.
In a separate video Jaglicic posted, the “Operation Chicago” trailer gets a shout out from actor and rapper Ice Cube, who says the film was “lookin’ pretty good” and to watch out for it this Halloween.
Jaglicic, who turned himself in at the Town Hall District police station Wednesday, is facing charges of intimidation, threatening a public official and electronic harassment, and his home was searched the following day.
Chicago police, meanwhile, are additionally investigating “the content” of a music video Jaglicic posted to YouTube on July 1 that appears to show Supt. David Brown arriving at Jaglicic’s home and hanging out in his basement recording studio.
An assistant public defender said Jaglicic was working with Brown as part of Jaglicic’s “Operation Chicago, LLC,” project to “bring the police and community together.”
Police declined to comment.
“[Jaglicic is] denying sending any emails with threats,” the assistant public defender added.
Jaglicic, who was recommended to be placed on electronic monitoring if he is able post bond, is expected back in court Aug. 12.
