A 35-year-old man was arrested for robbing a staffer of Illinois Senate President Don Harmon at knifepoint on Friday at the Democratic lawmaker’s district office in Oak Park, authorities allege.
Scott Loeffler was charged with armed robbery after authorities say he displayed a knife at the staffer and took an iPhone, Cook County court records show.
The staffer was not hurt during the incident, which occurred at Harmon’s district office in the 6900 block of West North Avenue in Oak Park, and Harmon said in a statement on Sunday that it did not appear “to have been politically motivated.”
“On Friday, a man entered the district office and confronted an employee with a knife. Thank God she is physically unharmed,” Harmon’s statement said. “I want to thank the Oak Park Police Department for a quick response, and I want to thank my staff for their bravery and unwavering commitment to public service. Their safety is my top priority.”
A Harmon spokesman said the Senate president was in the same office space but in a different room when the robbery occurred, and he did not see the suspect.
Court records show Loeffler was arrested in the 1700 block of North Narragansett Avenue in Chicago, about a mile from Harmon’s office.
Loeffler, whose last known address was on Chicago’s North Side, was scheduled to appear before a judge on the armed robbery charge on Sunday at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse.
Chicago Tribune reporter Laura Turbay contributed.
Jeremy Gorner
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