Officials say a man attacked his husband and later intentionally started a fire that damaged the victim’s belongings and their house in Mundelein.
Delwin L. Johnson, 39, of Mundelein, was charged with residential arson, domestic battery enhanced, criminal damage to property and domestic battery causing bodily harm.
A Mundelein police officer was on patrol on September 19 when they observed two people who were hysterical in a parking lot.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell said officers separated Johnson and his husband from each other.
The victim told officers there had been a verbal argument at their home and the victim tried leaving.
Johnson grabbed his husband’s phone and a physical altercation ensued over the phone, McConnell said.
McConnell said the victim then tried leaving the home when Johnson grabbed him by the shirt and threw him to the ground.
The victim ran out of the house and ran toward the police station. He suffered visible injuries on his neck, forearm, finger and elbow.
The victim had a friend pick him up and told officers he would stay somewhere else that night, McConnell said.
Officers drove Johnson back to his home but were called to the residence a few hours later for a report of a structure fire.
A neighbor called 911 after spotting the fence on fire at Johnson’s house near Ridgemoor Avenue and Crystal Street.
McConnell said officers found the fence, a carport and the home’s siding on fire.
They were unable to extinguish the fire and the fire department arrived to put out the blaze.
Johnson’s husband told police that Johnson had been texting him, McConnell said. Johnson allegedly sent photos of the victim’s clothes on fire in the garbage and his TV also fire.
“I burned all of your clothes I hope you die,” Johnson texted his husband, according to McConnell.
The items set on fire were near the fence and spread to the fence and home.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Johnson pending trial.
“Those actions in first attacking him [the victim] and then setting the house on fire show he is a clear threat,” McConnell said, adding that fires in a residential neighborhood can spread quickly.
Attorney Mary Cole argued in court that there were pre-trial conditions that could be imposed to ensure the safety of others.
Cole said Johnson suffers from serious mental health disorders and was not responding well to a new medication on the day of the incident.
Cole also said that Johnson had initially extinguished the fire himself and then went to bed after thinking the fire was out, but it was not.
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak denied the state’s petition to detain Johnson during a detention hearing late last month.
The judge said he did not believe that residential arson could be charged in this type of case due to Johnson being the sole owner of the home that the fire damaged.
Potkonjak released Johnson from custody and ordered he be monitored by probation with a curfew and reside with his sister. He was also ordered to not consume or possess alcohol or drugs.