Crime & Courts

Former Crystal Lake man pleads guilty to stealing guns, threatening prosecutor

Man threatened prosecutor with shiv carved from toothbrush, complaint shows

A man accused of stealing guns from a Lake in the Hills appliance store and later threatening a McHenry County prosecutor was sentenced to prison Monday.

Bryan J. Stoltenberg, 32, accepted a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to burglary and threatening a public official.

Stoltenberg and another man who was not convicted were accused of burglarizing HD Appliance at 1294 Industrial Drive, Lake in the Hills, on Jan. 31, 2015, a criminal complaint shows.

The men made off with 10 rifles, 16 pistols, six revolvers and one gun of an unknown make, according to charging documents.

The case against the other accused man was closed in May 2017 without a conviction.

A felony charge of aggravated possession of stolen firearms previously filed against Stoltenberg was dismissed as part of the plea deal.

Stoltenberg was hit with new charges during his stay at the McHenry County jail in October 2017, when he threatened to harm a prosecutor with a shiv carved from a toothbrush, a separate complaint shows.

He also was accused of threatening a jail correctional officer and another man, although the details of the alleged threats were not immediately clear.

McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather accepted the plea Monday.

Stoltenberg will receive credit for time he already has spent at the jail, and will serve two years of parole after the prison sentence.

Stoltenberg was listed second on McHenry County’s top-10 fugitive list at the time of his 2017 arrest.

Katie Smith

Katie Smith

Katie reported on the crime and courts beat for the Northwest Herald from 2017 through 2021. She began her career with Shaw Media in 2015 at the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb, where she reported on the courts, city council, the local school board, and business.