Man Accused of Throwing Rocks at Pritzker Home Had Been There At Least Three Times
Environmental activists protest outside of Governor JB Pritzker’s Chicago home in 2022. The Illinoize digitally altered the photograph to remove Pritzker’s street number.
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A west suburban man was released from police custody Tuesday and not held in jail after he allegedly threw rocks through the windows of Governor JB Pritzker’s Gold Coast mansion Monday.
Adam Dabash, 38, of Villa Park, was arrested Monday morning after allegedly throwing three baseball-sized rocks through the front windows of Pritzker’s home. Pritzker and his wife, MK, were reportedly both in the home at the time of the incident.
Cook County prosecutors did not seek to detain Dabash pending trial, and he was released after a hearing in Cook County court Tuesday. Dabash was charged with stalking and criminal damage to property.
Under the new Pretrial Fairness Act, Dabash could have been detained on the stalking charge. The State’s Attorney’s office did not seek Dabash’s detention.
Asked Tuesday if the defendant should have been held in jail, Pritzker balked.
“[He] should if he meets the requirements for that,” Pritzker said. “Criminal damage to property is one thing. Stalking, which it appears this person may be charged with, because it’s not the first time they’ve come by our home. I don’t know what the State’s Attorney is going to do with regard to that, but I can say that, collectively, those could lead to somebody being held in jail and not let out.”
Democratic Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz, who negotiated changes adding more detainable offenses to the law last year, was critical of the Cook County State's Attorney decision not to ask to detain Dabash on the stalking charge.
“I am always asking in stalking cases. Always asking in felon with a gun cases. Always asking in strangling domestics. Always asking in non probationable DUI's,” Rietz said. “Let the judge release them. I am asking to detain. At least ask. Why wouldn't you ask?”
(Disclosure: I've done work on some of Rietz’s previous campaigns.)
A Cook County State’s Attorney proffer of the charges against Dabash, provided to The Illinoize, says security cameras caught Dabash coming to Pritzker’s home twice in August and “approaching the victim’s home and tossing a piece of paper over the fence and onto the property each time.”
Prosecutors said while Dabash was in his holding cell, he told jail officers that we have a “mother f----r for a governor.”
Pritzker blamed a rise in political violence on Donald Trump and Republicans.
“The divisions in this country that are being fomented by the MAGA Republicans, led by their MAGA Republican leader Donald Trump, are causing people to feel that there’s a hatred [and] that it’s ok to act upon if they disagree with you on an issue. I think these examples are a sign of the times.”
The damage to the home had an estimated value of around $8,000.