A Waukegan man was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months of felony probation, including 18 months of periodic imprisonment, after he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of tampering with a secure communication system at Gurnee Mills.
Under the plea deal for Raymond Kelly, 25, an additional charge of communicating a false bomb threat was dropped.
Following a Gurnee Police Department investigation, Kelly was charged earlier this year with giving a false bomb alarm, a Class 3 felony punishable upon conviction by up to five years in prison. He also faced two counts of tampering with a secure communication, fire or life system, a Class 4 felony that carries a potential sentence of one to three years.
Under the plea deal, accepted by Judge James Booras, Kelly also will receive inpatient addiction treatment, must serve 200 hours of community service and forfeit equipment, including antennas, microphones, radios and cables, that were seized by Gurnee police during the investigation.
Kelly is also prohibited from going to, or being in contact with, either Gurnee Mills and Great America.
Booras told Kelly he also will not be allowed to use a cell phone to monitor or broadcast over radio systems.
The plea deal was presented by Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Ben Dillon and defense attorney Gabe Conroe.
According to the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, Kelly allegedly hacked into a radio system at Gurnee Mills from his house on Jan. 29. Dillon acknowledged after the hearing that Kelly never admitted to making a bomb threat but did admit that he hacked into the system and broadcasted noises. Kelly was arrested by Gurnee police after they tracked signals to the mall coming from his home, officials said.
Kelly’s mother, Cheryl Kelly, said her son struggles with addiction and mental health issues and that while he is “very intelligent,” he doesn’t always understand the serious consequences of things he does. She said he was broadcasting silly noises at Gurnee Mills on the day in question.
“He’s not a threat,” she said, adding that the family is paying the cost of his inpatient treatment.
Cheryl Kelly said her son is a former employee of Gurnee Mills and was familiar with their radio broadcast system. She said he has worked professionally as a programmer of police and fire radios.
Conroe and Dillon said that if he successfully completes his inpatient treatment once it moves forward, his periodic imprisonment after that time will be converted to electronic monitoring.
The state’s attorney’s office has said Kelly admitted to investigators that he had hacked into radio systems at Gurnee Mills since 2009.
According to court records and a previous release by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Kelly was charged in fall 2013 for allegedly hacking into the Lake County Sheriff’s jail radio communications system.
The release stated he was arrested after tampering with the sheriff’s office corrections talk group and transmitting “offensive language.”
He pleaded guilty to criminal misdemeanor theft involving tampering with a communication server to obtain service, according to records, and was ordered to pay court costs and fees. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail in that case.
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