An Indiana man was sentenced to time served after allegedly making threatening comments to workers in Lake County Judge Julie Cantrell’s office.
William Theodoros, 70, of Grovertown, Indiana, and Hobart, pleaded guilty Dec. 16 to Level 6 felony intimidation. Lake Superior Judge Samuel Cappas accepted the plea in a short hearing and sentenced him the same day.
Theodoros’ sentence called for 2.5 years, with his jail time credited and the rest served on probation. The deal requires him to undergo a mental health evaluation, according to court documents.
It’s to “make sure he’s in compliance,” his defense lawyer Russell Brown said in court.
An employee in Cantrell’s court in Crown Point told Lake County Sheriff’s Department detectives that Theodoros called the office at 9:10 a.m. on June 27, asking to meet with the judge to get an inheritance letter, so he could “get his money from God”, according to court documents.
If he didn’t get his money, the world would end, “starting with (the employee) and as well as everyone else there”, the affidavit states. Everyone “will pay if he does not get to see the judge and get his money,” according to documents.
He continued to “ramble” over the phone. The employee told him he didn’t have any pending cases.
“You don’t need to worry about that, I just need to see the judge,” he said.
If not, “everyone would start paying,” he said, according to court records.
Cantrell recognized Theodoros’ name from prior court cases. She told staff to schedule a 1:15 p.m. appointment. She also passed a message to deputies to arrest him if they found him at home.
Theodoros was arrested 12:40 p.m. nearby in building A of the Lake County Government Center. Deputies found no guns on him or in his car.
A relative told police she “begged” Theodoros not to call because he’d “done this type of thing previously”, according to the affidavit. Asked why he came to Lake County, the woman figured he remembered it from his past cases in her courtroom.
