On February 5, 2025, Milk and Honey COOP LLC filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against
- the Village of Lakemoor
- its former Mayor Ryan Todd Weihofen, and
- the Illinois State Police.
Weihofen is now the paid Village Administrator of Lakemoor.
Weihofen resigned as Mayor in 2022 around the time he lost his house in foreclosure and moved out of Lakemoor.
Weihofen’s $2.8 million bankruptcy which included debts payable to the Laborer’s union for unpaid wages and benefits was concluded shortly before his departure as Mayor.
When Weihofen resigned as Lakemoor Mayor, he was appointed the paid Village Administrator position.
According to the federal complaint, commencing at 6:33 A.M.. on November 1, 2024, at least five Lakemoor police officers and their vehicles entered upon the Plaintiff’s private property without a warrant, without exigent circumstances, and without probable cause to be present.
Later that same day, Weihofen showed up at Plaintiff’s property claiming the gate to Plaintiffs property was locked and in case of an emergency on Lily Lake he had to have access to Village property beyond a locked gate.
Weihofen was even caught on surveillance cameras at 12:50 p.m. in the exact location he claimed he needed access.
According to Lakemoor police reports attached to the complaint, its officer was responding at 1:05 PM to Weihofen’s request for assistance gaining access to the locked parking lot where he claimed he needed to access to village owned lifts.
This was despite the fact he was standing in the very location where he purportedly needed access according to a photographic time stamped exhibit in the Complaint.
When Plaintiff hired Attorney Rob Hanlon, he began sending FOIA requests seeking information related to the raid.
In particular, one of Hanlon’s requests was for documents evidencing the purchase of “lifts” including invoices and checks for the lifts Weihofen had described to Lakemoor police on November 1, 2024.
The Village responded to those FOIA requests indicating it had
- no responsive documents
- no receipts,
- no checks and
- no leases for any “lift”.
When pressed for the location of the lift that Weihofen referenced to Lakemoor police, an easement was produced for a sewer.
Hanlon apparently obtained an Illinois State Police videotaped interview of Weihofen wherein Weihofen admitted the sewers were conveyed to a separate sanitary district back in 2005 or 2006.
The search warrant issued by Judge Kevin Costello at about 6:15 PM states the warrant was based on the affidavit of Lakemoor police officer Adolf.
However, another FOIA response from Lakemoor Police refutes Christopher Adolf had anything to do with the Complaint for Search Warrant.
The lawsuit characterizes the complaint for the search warrant as forgery under the Illinois criminal code.
The Federal complaint then goes into the details of what was in the complaint for the search warrant along with Weihofen’s pretextual claims for needing to be on the property.
Basically, the complaint for the search warrant talks about the evidence of there being cannabis.
It was not disclosed to Judge Costello that Lakemoor Police had received Plaintiff’s Illinois Department of Agriculture licenses for growing and processing hemp as well as all chemical tests depicting compliance with the Industrial hemp Act, some five hours earlier.
According to the complaint, had police informed Judge Costello of the licenses and chemical tests showing compliance with the Industrial Hemp Act, he would not have found probable cause because the question of probable cause would have been materially different.
Apparently Weihofen did not like receiving FOIA requests seeking documents to test the veracity of his statements to police.
On January 27, 2025, Weihofen petitioned the Circuit Court of McHenry County for an order of protection against Hanlon because of his FOIA requests.
McHenry County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Lamb denied Weihofen’s petition against Hanlon and dismissed it outright without a response from Hanlon.
Weihofen complained that Hanlon mentioned his foreclosure in connection with a FOIA request.
The disclosure of Weihofen’s foreclosure was apparently related to an email clarifying Hanlon did not need communications between Mayor Weihofen and “Village Administrator Todd” because Hanlon later learned they were one and the same person and that Ryan goes by Todd.
Apparently, Ryan Weihofen resigned at or around the time of his foreclosure and conclusion of his bankruptcy because he could not meet the residency requirement.
When asked for comment on Weihofen’s attempt to obtain an order of protection, Hanlon quipped :
“Well, Mr. Weihofen has plenty of experience receiving orders of protection, perhaps he missed all of his ex-wife’s allegations of multiple occasions of abuse including threatening her with a gun and kicking her while she was pregnant.”
When asked about the legal basis of the complaint for an order of protection, Hanlon replied:
“Judge Lamb applied the law and denied the requested order of protection and dismissed Weihofen’s meritless case without my involvement.”
As to the Weihofen’s motives, Hanlon responded:
“Why don’t you ask him why he wouldn’t want to provide information that goes to the truth of his own statements?”
The Plaintiff is seeking in excess of $40,000,000.
