After nearly three years in court, Will County Judge Brian Barrett dismissed the final forfeiture case Wednesday against two New Lenox business owners and said the state’s case had “no merit from the start.”
Barrett criticized state officials for using forfeiture law to harm its citizens, especially those who the state does not like in this case, without liability, he said.
Barrett said by seizing property first and justifying those actions later, it did not seem to matter if the state was right or just, the state intended to punish its suspects regardless.
“The government was going to get its pound of flesh and inflict its pain,” he said. “This is disturbing on so many levels.”
Barrett said part of the harm to the defendants was cost of litigation, loss of credit and loss of reputation.
In this case, the defendants’ property was taken for three years while litigation was pending, the judge said.
A spokesperson for the Will County state’s attorney’s office said Wednesday they are reviewing the court’s decision and exploring options. They had no other comment regarding Barrett’s accusations.
Greta Keranen and Jeffery Regnier were first charged with fraud charges in 2023. While investigating the business owners for money laundering, the state raided the couple’s house and seized four cars and several investment accounts valued at $5.5 million.
The couple was found not guilty of certain fraud charges in November 2025, and Barrett ordered the state to return two cars and the investment accounts in December.
Barrett said Wednesday it is a stretch to say that Regnier and Keranen knowingly committed a crime and said the other charges were just salt in the wound.
Barrett said the state’s arguments failed to prove criminal intent and in this case, “there is nothing but two individuals buying cars.”
He said the court is disturbed by the government’s authoritative actions in this case, specifically the state raiding the couple’s house.
He cited testimony by Regnier that his house was “flash banged” when militarized officials knocked down his door, took his children and family at gunpoint and handcuffed him for allegations.
Keranen said Wednesday that hearing the judge’s statements was “validating and overwhelming.” She said all the pressure that she has felt since the charges were first filed came to a head during the judge’s decision.
She said its hard to recover from all the damages over the years, such as the raid making it hard for her children to feel comfortable in their house. She said they still wake up in the middle of the night with those “traumatic memories.”
Keranen said the raid has even made it hard to instill respect for law enforcement in her children, which she said is a family value. Regnier’s father was cop, she said.
“I’ll never be able to go back to Feb. 27 and rewind that clock for my 8-year-old daughter or 10-year-old son,” Keranen said.
Keranen also said the damages to more than 30 years of business relationships cannot be erased.
Regnier said for the last few years, he felt like they have been running their own law firm.
“Constantly running and reading and doing research and trying to get your defense up and read laws,” Regnier said. “We just need time to heal, time to sit down somewhere and have a glass of wine and not worry about who you owe money to and how you’re going to get paid and if you’re going to go to jail for 36 years.”
Keranen and Regnier are set to receive their two seized cars from the state under Barrett’s orders. But Regnier claimed the cars returned under the last forfeiture case in December were damaged.
Keranen said Wednesday they have not received the spare keys for those cars and said the state still owes them some of the seized funds.
Defense attorney Frank Adreano said Wednesday a full criminal and internal investigation needs to be undertaken against the state for its actions.
“When a policeman is accused of wrong, there is an internal investigation,” Adreano said. “With the prosecutors, they’re kings, they’re above the law, and nobody can do anything about it.”
Adreano, who specializes in forfeiture cases, said the state’s forfeiture actions are incentivized because funds from forfeited property go to the state appellate prosecutor.
The New Lenox couple still face another round of charges, including money laundering and filing a fraudulent Illinois sales and use tax return in 2023. Those charges are scheduled for trial on March 2, with a pretrial hearing on Feb. 2.
awright@chicagotribune.com
