Man pleads guilty to reporting false shooting threat at Sycamore High School

SYCAMORE – A Chicago man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison for making a false 911 call in September claiming he saw someone with a gun at Sycamore High School, records show.

Terrell L. Delaney, 31, pleaded guilty on Jan. 9, to disorderly conduct by threatening a school building. The charge was changed from a Class 3 felony at arrest to a Class 4 felony at the plea hearing, according to DeKalb County court records. His plea was accepted by Circuit Court Judge Joseph Pedersen, who sentenced Delaney by agreement to serve two years and six months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, records show.

He will earn 119 days of credit for time spent in DeKalb County jail, where he was held without release during court proceedings.

Delaney was represented by defense attorney Mary Baccam of the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office.

Prosecutors with the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office argued that Delaney’s actions set off a brief school lockdown at the high school and nearby West Elementary School on Sept. 13 in Sycamore.

Authorities later determined Delaney, arrested that same day, had lied to police after he called 911 about noon that day, claiming to have seen someone in a Sycamore High School bathroom with a gun. Police said he made the fake phone call to divert officers from finding him in connection to a domestic altercation, according to the Sycamore Police Department.

Though the two school buildings were placed on a precautionary lockdown, Sycamore School District 427 Superintendent Steve Wilder said in September that “at no time was there a direct threat to the safety of our students or staff.”

Authorities found and arrested Delaney in the 200 block of Mason Court that afternoon, according to court records.

Delaney originally faced two Class 3 felony charges of disorderly conduct, which carry a five-year maximum prison sentence.

It’s not the first time Delaney will serve an IDOC prison sentence, according to court records.

Delaney also faced charges related to a February 2024 incident in which police alleged that he harassed a woman and threatened to blow up Northwestern Medicine Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb. He pleaded guilty to felony stalking in that case on March 28, 2024, according to court filings. Pedersen also presided over that case. He sentenced Delaney to 100 days in jail and 24 months of probation for the February 2024 incident. Delaney received credit for 52 days in jail. After serving the remainder of his 100-day sentence in early 2024, Delaney was released on parole.

He was on parole at the time of the Sycamore High School incident, court records show.

Delaney was unable to be immediately reached for comment because of his incarceration in the IDOC.