Police: Man accused of threatening Will County judges, State’s Attorney James Glasgow

An Iraqi immigrant who was found unfit to stand trial in 2014 in an eavesdropping case against a former Will County sheriff was arrested and accused of communicating threats to multiple judges and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, police said.

About 8 p.m. Wednesday, Saad Noah, 65, formerly of Crest Hill, was booked into the Will County jail on charges of threatening a public official, harassment by telephone, intimidation and disorderly conduct.

The case against Noah originated in January, when he made “communication threats to multiple Will County judges, a Will County assistant public defender and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow,” Will County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.

“Due to the threats to the judiciary and prosecutor in Will County, the case was assigned to be prosecuted in Kankakee County with the Kankakee County State’s Attorney’s Office acting as special prosecutor,” Hoffmeyer said.

In 2014, Judge Sarah Jones dismissed a 2010 eavesdropping case against Noah after he was repeatedly found unfit to stand trial and because of constitutional issues with those eavesdropping charges, court records show.

In the 2010 case, Noah was accused of recording a phone conversation with former Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas and posting the audio on YouTube, according to a 2011 article from The Herald-News. The article reported that Noah was found unfit to stand trial that year.

The recordings were in a YouTube channel with videos criticizing the U.S. government and the religious persecution of Muslims, according to the article.

Following the charges in the latest case against Noah, the Will County Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant for his arrest, Hoffmeyer said.

Deputies with the sheriff’s office fugitive warrants unit began actively seeking to arrest him, she said.

“During the course of the investigation, a member of the fugitive warrants unit provided his phone number to family of Noah in the belief they would be helpful in locating him. They in turn provided that number to Noah, who then made multiple threatening calls to the warrants deputy,” Hoffmeyer said.

On March 5, Noah was arrested during the course of a traffic stop by the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Department in Florida and transported to its jail, Hoffmeyer said.

Noah fought the extradition, and the special prosecutor and sheriff’s warrant unit obtained a governor’s warrant for Noah, which was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 11, Hoffmeyer said.

“The sheriff’s fugitive warrants unit then conducted the extradition [Wednesday], bringing him back to the [Will County jail],” Hoffmeyer said.

According to the terms of Noah’s arrest warrant and the special prosecution agreement, all proceedings are to take place in Kankakee County, Hoffmeyer said.

In 2006, Noah had staged a hunger strike to call attention to “injustices” perpetrated by Kaupas, Glasgow and the judges in Will County, according to a Herald-News article from that year.

Noah said at the time that those officials conspired to deprive him of his former wife and his home by allowing an illegal divorce and charged him with resisting a police officer, according to the article.