Lightfoot ‘stalker’ who cut off ankle monitor and fled to Canadian border island gets probation

A Man Pleads Guilty to Stalking Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot

A man charged with stalking former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot after repeatedly showing up outside her home, furious that police were still guarding her after she lost her re-election bid, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, court records show.

Garrett McLinn, 39, was arrested in March 2023 after showing up multiple times outside Lightfoot’s Logan Square residence, agitated that a police security detail remained posted there. McLinn, who was reportedly on leave from his job as a Chicago Public Schools physical education teacher at the time, allegedly confronted officers and demanded to know why they were still protecting her.

While Lightfoot had lost the February 2023 primary election, she remained mayor until May, six weeks after McLinn was arrested.

Prosecutors said McLinn stood on the sidewalk and argued with members of the security detail, insisting Lightfoot was no longer mayor, before officers escorted him away. He allegedly drove past her home later that day and flipped off the officers stationed outside. The following afternoon, prosecutors said, McLinn returned and went on a 20-minute rant about the police presence before leaving.

After McLinn left, police informed Lightfoot about the encounters and she “expressed safety concerns,” a prosecutor said in 2023.

McLinn allegedly returned that evening and yelled at the security detail as he drove past. Officers attempted to follow him but turned back when he sped away. They arrested McLinn roughly 90 minutes later when they spotted him walking on the sidewalk across from Lightfoot’s home.

Chicago police license plate reader data allegedly showed McLinn’s vehicle had been detected in the area of Lightfoot’s home 14 times over just two days. He had no criminal background.

A judge placed McLinn on a GPS ankle monitor and ordered him confined to his home 24 hours a day while the case was pending. About six weeks later, prosecutors alleged, McLinn cut off the ankle monitor while passing through Missoula, Montana, and threw it into a river. Washington state officials located him in June 2023 on the San Juan Islands near the Canadian border.

Prosecutors charged McLinn with escaping electronic monitoring, but dropped that charge Thursday as part of a plea agreement.

In exchange for pleading guilty to false report of an offense, Judge Peggy Chiampas sentenced McLinn to two years of second-chance probation, with conditions requiring him to submit to random drug testing, provide his DNA to a law enforcement database, and complete a mental health evaluation, according to court records. If McLinn completes his probation, he will be eligible to have the conviction wiped from his record.