A veteran Aurora police officer is sitting in the Kendall County Jail without bail after allegedly threatening to drag a judge out of his own home in the middle of the night, following a contentious divorce hearing earlier this month. Denys Machado, 49, was charged with one count of threatening a public official, a Class 3 felony, after the alleged threat surfaced just days after a judge's ruling in his divorce case.
A Threat Relayed Through His Own Attorney
According to Shaw Local, Machado appeared before the judge on August 3 for a divorce hearing, and it was during a subsequent phone call with his own defense attorney, Sophia Idrizi, that he allegedly made the threat. Idrizi, who practices at McAdams and Sartori Law Office in Yorkville, reported the remarks to Yorkville police, telling them she believed the threat was credible and that she was concerned for the judge's safety. Machado allegedly told Idrizi of the judge, “He won't be tough when I come to his house and drag him out at 3 a.m.”
Yorkville police did not treat the report lightly. Investigators determined the threat had what they described as a legitimate basis to warrant felony charges, and Machado was taken into custody at his Clementi Court home in Aurora on August 5, two days after the courtroom hearing, according to Patch. He was taken into custody without incident.
Judge Cites Machado's Law Enforcement Background
At a detention hearing, prosecutors argued Machado's history made him a danger if released, telling the court, according to Shaw Local's reporting, that it is clear the defendant has impulse control issues and is a danger to multiple individuals, including the judge. The presiding judge said he was especially concerned because of Machado's background in law enforcement, and separately noted concern for his own safety. Machado was ultimately denied release pending trial and ordered to remain in custody at the Kendall County Jail as of August 7.
That law enforcement history runs deep. Public profile information reviewed by Kendall County Reviews identifies Machado as an Aurora police detective with nearly two decades on the force, following earlier service with the Schaumburg Police Department. Illinois Appellate Court records dating to 2014 place Machado on active duty as an Aurora officer responding to a collision and shots-fired incident involving a crowd of more than 50 bystanders, underscoring a law enforcement career that stretches back more than a decade. The Aurora Police Department has confirmed Machado remains a current officer but is now on unpaid administrative leave.
A History of Domestic Violence Allegations
The threat charge is not Machado's only pending case. He was separately charged in September 2025 with aggravated battery to a minor and two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery in Kendall County, a case that remains pending. A family member listed the Aurora Police Department as Machado's employer when filing an order of protection against him that same month, according to the same Shaw Local report, and another order of protection was filed by a family member back in 2019.
The 2025 protective order cited a history of domestic violence and alleged a pattern of behavior that left the woman who filed it fearing for her safety. In her own words, cited in the order, she wrote, “He has an anger problem.” She also alleged Machado had placed cameras all over the house. The account further states Machado was involved in at least two incidents involving the Illinois Department of Family Services. Machado and Jessica Lynn Gaona, both Aurora residents, had obtained a marriage license in Kendall County back in July 2018, according to Shaw Local marriage records cited in its reporting.
Out-of-County Judge and Special Prosecutor Brought In
Given that the target of the alleged threat was a sitting Kendall County judge, Chief Judge Stephen Krentz requested that the case be handled outside the local courthouse. A special prosecutor has been assigned to the case, which will now be presided over by Lake County Judge Ari Fisz. This kind of reassignment is standard practice in Kendall County: when local judicial conflicts arise involving law enforcement or court officials, proceedings are routinely shifted to out-of-county judges or special prosecutors from the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, as seen in an earlier Kendall County threat case Hoodline covered in April.
That April case, in which a 41-year-old Joliet man was arrested by Kendall County authorities and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force on a felony charge of threatening a Kendall County judge following a four-month investigation, marks the second such prosecution against the county's judiciary within just four months.
What Machado Faces Under Illinois Law
Machado's ability to be held without bail traces back to Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act, which designates threatening a public official as a detainable offense. Under that framework, prosecutors must prove by clear and convincing evidence that a defendant poses a real and present threat to safety before a judge can order pretrial detention. If convicted, Machado faces up to five years in prison, consistent with the Class 3 felony threshold under Illinois' threatening-a-public-official statute, which carries two to five years for a first offense and escalates to a Class 2 felony punishable by three to seven years for any repeat conviction.
The charge also carries consequences for Machado's law enforcement credentials. Under police certification rules expanded by Illinois' 2021 SAFE-T Act, the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board holds emergency suspension authority once an officer is charged with a felony, and a felony conviction would trigger mandatory statewide decertification, permanently ending his ability to serve as a police officer anywhere in Illinois. It remains unclear when Machado's unpaid administrative leave from the Aurora Police Department began or whether the training standards board has moved to initiate emergency suspension proceedings in his case.
Machado's next court appearance is scheduled for August 19. The article on Machado's case was written by Joey Weslo for Shaw Local's Kendall County Now section.
