Ex-firefighter guilty of electronic harassment for hundreds of threatening calls, emails to woman

A Woodstock man and former McHenry County-area firefighter has pleaded guilty to violating an order of protection and to electronic harassment and was sentenced to two years of misdemeanor probation.

Aaron Krejci, 42, was accused of stalking and harassing a woman in violation of the protective order a woman took out against him multiple times between April 1, 2024, and Feb. 7 of this year, according to documents filed in McHenry County court. Krejci also was ordered to refrain from consuming alcohol and ordered to take a mental health evaluation, according to a misdemeanor sentencing order.

The original charges against Krejci included cyberstalking, a Class 4 felony. Had he been convicted on the felony, he could have faced up to three years in prison. Should he violate the terms of his probation, he risks being resentenced and potentially jailed on the more serious charge, according to the order. The charges to which he pleaded guilty are misdemeanors.

Krejci was accused of sending the woman “numerous” emails “of a sexual nature” and asking about “specific locations she had visited,” according to the initial criminal complaint against him. In one instance, she was on vacation, and he drove to a family member’s home in another state “in an attempt to locate her,” according to the complaint.

“In addition to the emails referencing her locations, hundreds of emails were sent of a threatening and insulting manner,” according to the complaint. He made threats to her and her family in the emails, made “repeated comments referencing her deceased father and his ashes,” and sent “partially censored naked images of unknown women,” according to the complaint.

The woman accused Krejci of calling her 20 to 70 times a day and sending “multiple text messages and emails making threatening statements,” such as, “Lie to me and see the war that will start,” court records indicate. According to the request for a protective order, Krejci also drove past the woman’s house at all hours.

Krejci had been out on pretrial release related to misdemeanor charges of violating another order of protection pertaining to the woman’s children, according to court records. That pretrial release was revoked on the new charges March 4 during an initial hearing before Judge Cynthia Lamb, court records show. He was released from jail Thursday after entering his plea, records show.

Local officials confirmed that Krejci has previously worked for multiple fire departments in McHenry County and Cook County. The Woodstock Fire/Rescue District website indicates that an Aaron Krejci was hired by the department in 2008.