Springfield woman charged after making death threat against city council member
A Springfield woman has been charged after allegedly making a death threat against alderman Check Redpath Sr.
Samantha G. White, 43, of Springfield faces a single count of threatening a public official. It is a class 3 felony punishable by two to five years imprisonment.
According to a court document, White called the Sangamon County Dispatch Center on Feb. 16 asking for Redpath's whereabouts. When a dispatcher asked White why she needed to know where Redpath was, she said "because I'm gonna go kill him."
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White was still trying to make contact with Redpath when Springfield Police officers located her later that day. They found a baseball bat in White's vehicle.
White was taken to Memorial Behavioral Health before she was taken to the Sangamon County Jail.
"We want to make sure the victim and the public are protected," said Sangamon County State's Attorney John Milhiser, reached Monday, about the charge. "Often times in these cases, the suspect has a mental illness, which, while need to protect the victim and protect the public, we also want to assist the suspect in getting the mental health treatment they need, if they need it."
Milhiser did not comment when asked why White would have made the threat.
At White's Feb. 20 hearing before Circuit Judge Robin Schmidt, the State's petition to have White detained was denied. Schmidt ordered White to be confined to home and be fitted with an electronic monitoring device.
White also has to comply with mental health treatment and can have no contact with Redpath.
White has no criminal history in Sangamon County.
Redpath is in his third term as Ward 1 alderman. He has been on the city council since 1987.
Springfield Police officials didn't immediately respond when asked if any extra security measures will be taken at future city council meetings.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788; sspearie@sj-r.com; X, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: A Springfield, Illinois woman threatened to kill a city council member
