A Barrington Hills man was arrested after he allegedly posted a YouTube video threatening to kill police officers, prosecutors, public defenders and a judge while awaiting trial in a similar case for threatening officers last year.
Joel A. Koskinen, 36, of Barrington Hills, was charged with threatening a public official, a Class 3 felony, and electronic harassment, a Class 4 felony.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court alleges Koskinen conveyed a threatening YouTube video to McHenry County Judge Jennifer Johnson on May 29.
Koskinen allegedly made statements in the video saying that the judge lied on the record. “…you know, Judge Johnson, another liar.”
“You will go and shoot that judge in her [expletive] face for being a stupid [expletive]. This will be done because of my powers and his authority,” he said in the video.
The complaint said the threat was made because of his hostility toward the judge based on the performance of her duties.
Koskinen also allegedly threatened police officers, McHenry County prosecutors, staff members of the McHenry County Mental Health Court and the McHenry County Public Defender’s Office in the video.
“The cops will be tortured at once. They will never come by me or they will die in real life. And I’m serious. I’m actually killing the police of Barrington Hills. They will die for all their treason and war crime immediately. They will shoot the cops in the head for telling the [expletive] lies in the courtroom just recently,” he said in the video.
“You will all die for watching this. And I will come for you with my events and I’ll punish you for the rest of your life in the ways that are beyond recognition. You won’t ever lie in court again,” Koskinen said, according to the complaint.
Koskinen allegedly said in the video that they would die when he showed up for mental health court.
“You will kill the public defender’s office for being a piece of trash and you will kill every prosecutor in McHenry County. You will kill everyone I meet. You will shoot everyone in the entire country, or I will end the entire world,” he said.
“You will kill everyone in the mental health court program so that it no longer exists,” Koskinen said, while also threatening to shoot the judge in the face.
Koskinen was on pre-trial release for the same exact offenses of threatening a public official, a Class 3 felony, and electronic harassment, a Class 4 felony. Johnson was the presiding judge in that case, which was filed in July.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court alleges Koskinen conveyed a threatening YouTube video in June 2025 directly to a specific police officer with the Barrington Hills Police Department.
The video contained a threat to shoot the officer in the head and the threat was “made because of the hostility of the defendant toward” that officer, the complaint said.
The complaint said the video made reference to, “I will now kill every cop in Barrington Hills Police.”
“Barrington Hills police, they will be killed immediately. They will never come here again and they will die regardless,” Koskinen said in one of the videos while referencing shooting and torturing the police.
In another video, Koskinen mentioned that a police officer had been at his house but “that cop will be shot in the head.”
“Now he’s going to die for having been here ever before. There will never be a cop in this house again,” Koskinen said in the video. “By the way, they’re going to cut your legs off.”
Koskinen, who was initially ordered detained pending trial in the first case but later released from custody, has since been arrested again and remains held in the McHenry County Jail.
DeKalb County Judge Philip Montgomery is now presiding over Koskinen’s cases in McHenry County.
Prosecutors filed a petition to revoke his pre-trial release last week and it was granted by the new judge.
He is scheduled to appear for a status of trial date on June 23.