A Geneva man who sent letters to Fox Valley residents that a Kane County judge described as “vulgar” was found not guilty Monday of misdemeanor disorderly conduct.
Anton Purkart, 51, was accused last summer of sending several anonymous letters to local residents containing slurs and other derogatory statements. He was charged with four counts of disorderly conduct for causing alarm and disturbance to the recipients.
His letters targeted Hispanics, women and a gay man, all connected to various Facebook posts, records show. But his words were ultimately determined to be protected speech, a judge ruled Monday.
Judge Salvator LoPiccolo said that he does not condone Purkart’s actions and he found the contents of the letters to be “vulgar and offensive.” But ultimately, prosecutors were unable to show that the letters contained threats, he said.
“This was a difficult decision for me to make,” LoPiccolo said.
LoPiccolo said he also believes Purkart is truly sorry about the letters.
Purkart, of the first block of South Andover Lane, had appeared before LoPiccolo during a bench trial on June 25 where three recipients of his anonymous letters testified.
Purkart’s defense attorney Matthew Haiduk said that Purkart is looking forward to personally apologizing to the recipients of his letters. Purkart said he had no comment after the verdict was announced.
The letters did not have a return address and contained printed out screenshots of the recipient’s comments or reactions to Facebook posts.
While prosecutors argued the letters contained personal information and made recipients feel threatened, Haiduk argued that Purkart’s views were protected and did not contain any specific threats.
Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said in a statement that he respect’s LoPiccolo’s decision.
“Sometimes we must tolerate insulting, inaccurate and even outrageous speech in order to provide adequate space to the freedoms protected by the First Amendment,” McMahon said.
mejones@chicagotribune.com
