Ronald Haddad, Jr., the federal felon convicted in state court last year of criminal trespass to the River Forest library, avoided more jail time last week after Judge Edmund Chang ruled with what he termed “extraordinary leniency.”
The judge made it clear there would be no further leniency if Haddad violated the conditions of his release yet again.
On Oct. 20, Haddad, 51, of Forest Park, admitted to and was found guilty of obstruction of justice through an angry and implicitly threatening email on July 22, 2025, and to violating his home incarceration conditions by entering the River Forest library in early September.
Chang sentenced Haddad to the 10 months he previously served in jail, and to 26 months of supervised release, with the first 90 days to be served in home incarceration with electronic monitoring.
In April 2024, Haddad was arrested for criminal trespass to the River Forest library after entering despite being banned for past inappropriate behavior. Haddad’s probation officer Brigette King told Judge Virginia Kendall at the time that “The librarians and everyone at the library are in fear of what’s going on. Library officials said they spent at least $47,000 on security arrangements for the building due to Haddad’s actions. He was subsequently found guilty.
The legal consequences Haddad incurred for that trespass appeared to have had little effect on him. In July 2025, he was arrested after he sent a 59-page email “containing hundreds of email addresses and multiple alleged threatening statements.”
Following that arrest, Kendall recused herself from sitting on Haddad’s case after he angrily criticized the judge and mentioned watching her while she rode public transit. In her formal recusal notification, Kendall said Haddad had threatened her.
According to a hearing transcript, Haddad’s graphic, violent language in the 2025 email included “f… them, f… their families… I encourage you to blow these kinds of scum f…s completely and publicly in half.”
Haddad spent 10 months in the Winnebago County Jail awaiting resolution of the government’s revocation motion before being released to home incarceration in late May.
Haddad is not allowed to utilize any computer not outfitted with court-approved monitoring technology and not allowed to leave his mother’s apartment except for appointments given prior approval by his probation officer. His most recent revocation hearing appears to have been expedited after he used a document scanning device inside the Oak Park library to send what was effectively an email to this reporter at the two newspaper chains he works for, including Wednesday Journal.
On Sept. 2, this reporter was forwarded the email by an editor at another news chain. A handwritten letter in the email referred to “Wednesday Journal newspaper reporter bill:dwyer,” and contended that this reporter “already have (sic) and know the real truth about river forest so-called ‘police officers’ attacking me on my walk home from Maybrook court on Tuesday, July 9th, 2024,” Haddad wrote.
In fact, this reporter knew only what he’d read in federal court filings related to Haddad’s arrest. On Sept. 5, an email was sent by this reporter to Madeleine Murphy, an assistant US attorney, asking for confirmation that Haddad was required to stay out of libraries and stay off the internet as a condition of his release from jail, and asking for any comment the US Attorney’s office was willing to make.
Murphy replied, “Thanks for letting me know about this situation. I’ll forward your email to Haddad’s probation officer and confer with her on our next steps regarding this,” with no further comment.
The government subsequently brought two additional charges against Haddad, for using an unapproved internet connection and entering the Oak Park library.
On Oct. 20, Haddad, who was already facing revocation of his bond due to three other counts, admitted to two of the five charges against him. Count one related to the email blast Haddad sent out to the Oak Park Rotary Club’s general email address, and other email addresses, ranting in graphic terms against numerous individuals. Count four related to Haddad entering the Oak Park library on Sept. 2 in violation of his bond.
Haddad admitted sending the scanned document from the Oak Park library with the caveat “I was just trying to express to the public what was going on.”
“I regret doing it,” Haddad said of the violations, again with a caveat, saying, “I did not have any criminal intent in doing it.”
Chang scoffed at Haddad’s contention that he’d been forced to violate his release condition in order to file an appeal in county circuit court. He warned Haddad that his recent diagnosis of neurodivergence was no excuse for him violating court orders.
“There’s not any kind of mental defect that prevented him from knowing what he was doing was in violation of the law,” Chang said. “There is nothing about the neurodivergence that would have prevented you from understanding.”
The judge also said the issue at hand was not Haddad’s anger at or invective against authority.
“You’re entitled to your opinion,” Chang said. “What you’re not entitled to is violating the conditions of your release to express that, (by) using the internet at a location you were not supposed to be at.”
Chang told Haddad his ruling was “reflective of how much (Haddad’s probation officer) is trying to help you. How much everyone is trying to help you.”
The judge acknowledged that whatever treatment regimen was currently in place that Haddad was finally cooperating and it appeared to be having a positive effect on him.
“The July 25, 2025 Ron Haddad would not recognize he was doing something he should not be doing,” Chang said. He also suggested he had heard Murphy’s call for Haddad to serve additional jail time for his violating his release conditions.
“You’re being shown extraordinary leniency here,” Chang told Haddad.
Haddad has a trial date scheduled for Dec. 7 at Maybrook Courthouse on state charges of aggravated battery to a police officer.