After Will County prosecutors dropped several criminal charges against two New Lenox business owners in July, the state’s attorney’s office refiled the charges, and a new trial is scheduled for Nov. 17.
Laura Byrne, assistant state’s attorney, said the state has no additional comments, citing that the matter is pending, when asked for the reasoning behind refiling the charges.
The case is also scheduled for a discovery status date on Oct. 16.
The state refiled the charges against Jeffrey Regnier, the owner of Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox, and Greta Keranen, with Kee Construction on Aug. 7, after Circuit Court Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak moved in late July to drop the charges, first filed in 2023.
The dropped charges included theft by deception, burglary, loan fraud, wire fraud and burglary fraud, which Regnier and Keranen will now face again in November.
Regnier said after the state refiled the charges he wanted to go directly to trial, as he said he is confident of his innocence and is tired of all the delays.
“We were ready in July to go to trial, and we’ll be ready in November to go to trial,” Regnier said. “We just want this to be over with, so the state, so we, can move on with our lives.”
The charges were dismissed in July after Bertani-Tomczak ruled to either take the case to trial immediately or have the charges dropped. The state refused to go to trial, requesting a delay due to the absence of several witnesses and to allow time for an expert analysis of handwriting on original documents.
Bertani-Tomczak denied the state’s request for a delay because prosecutors had four months to ensure the witnesses’ presence, as the July court date was set in March. Previous judges in the case expressed frustration with prosecutor delays.
Regnier and Keranen were first charged with several felonies for fraud and theft of COVID-19 pandemic relief funds in 2023.
The New Lenox business partners will still face a number of charges in Will County Circuit Court, including money laundering and filing a fraudulent Illinois sales and use tax return, after a decision is reached on the state’s refiled charges.
Regnier and Keranen are also involved in several related civil cases.
One case, involving Fidelity Investment accounts valued at $5.5 million that were seized as a part of officials investigation of Regnier and Keranen for money laundering, is scheduled for trial on Oct. 8.
Another case, involving their seized Ford Bronco, is scheduled for Nov. 18.
