A Lake County couple says Illinois State Sen. Suzi Schmidt has been harassing them for more than a year, including telling their 7-year-old son of an alleged affair, court documents reveal.
Sen. Suzi Schmidt was arrested Tuesday and charged with two misdemeanors after the neighbor claimed Schmidt trespassed on her property, damaged a feed bag and threw it in a swamp.
The incident is just the latest in a bizarre string of claims lodged by Schmidt's neighbor detailed in a 26-page report by the Lake County Sheriff's Department.
From December 2012 through February of this year, the neighbor claims Schmidt fired off a series of harassing phone calls, text messages and emails, with Schmidt claiming her estranged husband was having an affair with his female neighbor. The claim is vehemently denied by the neighbor in the police report.
Three months ago, Schmidt confront the neighbors' 7-year-old son and made comments about the alleged affair, the family said in the report.
Another incident last week had Schmidt hiding in the bushes, they said. When confronted, Schmidt told the neighbor's husband, "Your wife is a whore. You need to open your eyes."
Schmidt bonded out of jail Tuesday night, and deputies served her with an emergency order preventing her from having any contact with her neighbors.
Schmidt has been silent on the incident.
The Lake Ville Republican made news last year when 911 tapes were released of her using her job title to try and persuade police to ignore her husband's domestic disturbance calls.
Despite pressure to resign from office after the allegations against her, the senator stayed on, but later decided not to seek re-election.
Lake County GOP chairman Robert Cook said the recent allegations don't sound like the leader he knows, but said, based on what he knows at this point, would not call on Schmidt to step down early.
