Man Caught With Four Knives In Daley Center

By Anna Deem in News on Mar 20, 2010 9:00PM

Kevin J. Long, 48, of the 4500 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon on Tuesday afternoon when four hunting knives were discovered inside his briefcase at the Daley Center. A Cook County sheriff's deputy noticed images of knives inside Long's briefcase as it ran through an X-ray machine and questioned him. Long allegedly said his briefcase contained "just papers," according to a news release from the sheriff's office, and told police that he had come to the Daley Center to visit the law library and had forgotten that the knives were in his briefcase.

Long has been arrested 18 times since 2000 for a range of offenses, including being caught in a judge's chambers and public indecency. His name is also on a list developed by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Cook County sheriff's department as a potential threat to judges or court officials after he served 15 months in jail for telling a witness during a civil court case that he would kill the witness's child.

Currently on parole since November, Long was denied bail on his parole violation and instead it was set at $350,000 on Wednesday by Cook County Judge Donald Panaresey, according to Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney's office. [Chicago Tribune]