A Rock Falls man has been charged in Whiteside County with felony weapons violations and resisting arrest after several officers, while attempting to serve him protective order paperwork, ended up having to forcibly handcuff him and carry him to a squad car.

Chad J. Clary, 37, is charged with possessing a firearm with an invalid firearm owner identification (FOID) card, a Class 3 felony; aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon while under a protective order and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon in a vehicle/no FOID card, both Class 4 felonies; and one misdemeanor count each of illegal possession of ammunition, resisting a police officer and obstructing the service process.

The charges were filed in connection with officers’ second of two attempts, both on Oct. 16, to serve Clary with an emergency protective order issued against him the day before, according to court testimony during Clary’s preliminary hearing Monday, Oct. 27, in Whiteside County Circuit Court and court records.

Whiteside County sheriff’s deputy Mark Mendoza testified he and another officer had tried to serve the civil papers at Clary’s Rock Falls residence about 8 a.m. Oct. 16.

Under questioning by Whiteside County Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Simon, Mendoza testified that Clary refused to speak with deputies, screamed, slammed the door to his home, and then could be heard commenting that the only way “he’d come out of that house was in a body bag.”

The two deputies left the property and rounded up five other officers, including Rock Falls police, to help serve papers on Clary at his place of employment in Rock Falls.

Mendoza said that when Clary saw the police, he refused to talk to them and then walked from the inside to the outside of the business. When he began resisting officers, Clary was taken to the ground, forcibly handcuffed, then carried screaming to the squad car, Mendoza said.

Mendoza said Clary’s wife told police that Chad Clary had a gun, but that she didn’t know where it was. A detective later found a 9 mm handgun as well as ammunition in Clary’s vehicle, resulting in the weapons charges, Mendoza said.

Clary’s attorney, assistant public defender Daniel Huffman, argued that the vehicle was registered to both Clary and his wife, making them co-owners. He questioned why Clary’s wife wasn’t charged with possessing a weapon, since the gun was found in a vehicle that she co-owned with the defendant. Mendoza, under questioning by Simon, testified that he did not know Clary’s wife’s FOID card status.

Huffman also said the one to two hours that passed between Clary being taken into custody and the search of the vehicle would have allowed Clary’s wife enough time to have the gun placed in the vehicle in an attempt to set him up.

Simon replied that it would be difficult to believe that Clary’s wife would carry out a “James Bond maneuver” to plant guns in the vehicle.

At the conclusion of those arguments, Judge Magen Mertes ruled enough evidence existed to continue the case against Chad Clary. Huffman entered a not guilty plea on Clary’s behalf.

Simon also asked that Clary remain held in the Whiteside County Jail because he has been the defendant in two protective order cases in the past two years and has a criminal history that includes assault convictions.

Mertes agreed to detain Clary based on what she described as the safety threat he poses.

His next hearing, a jury pretrial conference, is set for 9 a.m. Nov. 19.