A Will County judge said he is disturbed by what he called “authoritarianism” in a 2023 forfeiture case from prosecutors that he said was done to “punish the citizens.”

On Jan. 21, Judge Brian Barrett ruled against Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Office complaint for forfeiture of two Ford Broncos vehicles seized from Manhattan couple Jeff Regnier, 48, and Greta Keranen, 52.

The couple were acquitted of 2023 charges connected to the forfeiture case last November. Glasgow’s prosecutors nevertheless continued with the forfeiture case.

In Barrett’s ruling, he found no evidence of criminal intent on part of the couple nor that the loan used to buy the Ford Broncos was “criminally derived property,” according to a transcript of the Jan. 21 court hearing.

“There is simply nothing here. They just bought two cars. That was the end of it,” Barrett said.

Barrett said he is “particularly disturbed” with the “special-type authoritarianism that is displayed by the government.”

“This case, it didn’t matter to the government whether they were right or just or whether they would even succeed in this case. The purpose of the forfeiture was to punish the citizens. That was the simple tactic that the government used,” Barrett said.

Shaw Local has not yet received a comment from Glasgow’s office on Barrett’s ruling as of Monday afternoon.

Regnier and Keranen were represented by Joliet attorney Frank Andreano, who has been critical of numerous forfeiture cases filed by Glasgow’s office.

Last year, Barrett ordered the Will County Sheriff’s Office to pay more than $19,000 to James Nowak, 55, of Mokena, after dismissing a case that Andreano claimed involved “outrageous misconduct.”

Glasgow’s office disputed Andreano’s comments on the Nowak case and appealed Barrett’s decision.

In 2024, Andreano raised a constitutional challenge to Illinois civil forfeiture. The Will County case that led to Andreano’s challenge involved Almeda Cain, 84, of Richton Park, who owns a 2014 vehicle.

Prosecutors filed a forfeiture complaint for Cain’s vehicle because her daughter used it “in connection with” the misdemeanor offense of driving with a revoked license. The case remains ongoing.

In the Ford Broncos forfeiture case, Barrett said Keranen and Regnier suffered not just the loss of two vehicles but having to pay back the loan for the vehicles, along with problems with their credit.

“They now have the cost of litigation to defend themselves against the government that has no liability because they are immune and no care whatsoever to even consider what this would do,” Barrett said.

Prosecutors generally have absolute immunity from lawsuits.

Last year, Keranen and Regnier filed a federal lawsuit that claimed Will County authorities and the U.S. Secret Service are targeting them and others with “frivolous” forfeiture cases to line their pockets.

Keranen and Regnier voluntarily dismissed the sheriff’s office from the case. Last December, a federal judge allowed them to amend their claims against the U.S. Secret Service.

On Nov. 24, Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak found Regnier not guilty of theft by deception, burglary and forgery, and she found Keranen not guilty of loan fraud, wire fraud and forgery in connection with the purchase of the Ford Broncos, court records show.

The couple is scheduled for trial on March 2 in a separate case involving charges of fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 pandemic relief funds.

In Barrett’s Jan. 21 ruling in their forfeiture case, he said the “government was going to get its pound of flesh and inflict pain” regardless of any outcome in the matter.

“The attitude and the mentality of the government’s acton in this one: seize first, analyze second. That is not the proper way to do anything. It is certainly not the proper way for the government to stand up and say, ‘We’re doing this for the citizens.’ It is not. They were doing it for themselves,” Barrett said.

Barrett said the forfeiture case involved “intent to harm two people who the government simply didn’t like.”

The judge cited testimony from Regnier regarding a question on why he didn’t sign documents at issue in the forfeiture case when he had the authority to do so.

“Because on [Feb. 27, 2023], in the early morning hours, militarized commandos knocked down our door, flash banged my house, took my family and my children at gun point, dragged us out and handcuffed us, all because of the allegation that I signed something for my wife, and that was not going to happen again,” Regnier said.

Barrett questioned who is going to investigate Glasgow’s office as to “whether their actions of seize first, analyze second are proper.”

“This is disturbing on so many levels,” Barrett said.