Belleville man rents billboard to ‘aggravate’ city and county officials

A new billboard message appeared on West Main Street in Belleville this week with “Courthouse Corruption Coming Soon” in giant white letters on a black background.

It was paid for by local resident Stewart Lannert, whose name and phone number are listed at the bottom.

Lannert, 83, said Thursday the message is designed to “aggravate” city and St. Clair County officials who have, in his view, behaved improperly and to “give them something to think about.”

“You’ve got to fight fire with fire,” he said.

According to Lannert, the reference to “coming soon” is a play on movie promotions. He declined to say how much he spent to rent the billboard for six months.

Lannert has been arrested several times by Belleville police in the past 10 years. He frequently attends City Council meetings to complain about official actions and speak on other issues.

In a 2023 case that’s still pending, the state’s attorney’s office charged Lannert with making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony. The complaint alleges that he called police dispatch and threatened to blow up Belleville City Hall or the county courthouse with dynamite. He hasn’t yet entered a plea.

“With all the corruption at the courthouse, they’ve got a lot of nerve, I think, giving me a $1 million bond,” he said Thursday.

Lannert was referring to a judge who initially set his bond at $1 million, requiring him to pay $100,000 (10%) to get out of jail after 33 days. That was later reduced, and he was refunded $50,000.

Lannert said he’s always calling public offices to complain or give his opinions, and officials know he sometimes jokes or exaggerates to make a point, particularly after political discussions at a local tavern.

If authorities had thought Lannert was serious about blowing up the buildings, he said, they would have come straight to his house to question or arrest him. Instead, he was taken into custody when he stopped by the police station days later.

Lannert is being represented by attorney John Baricevic, former St. Clair County judge and state’s attorney.

Belleville Acting Police Chief Mark Heffernan declined to comment on Lannert’s allegations against the department.

“While Mr. Lannert has pled guilty to criminal felonies brought to the state’s attorney by Belleville police, there are still pending felony charges against Mr. Lannert, and I do not believe it’s appropriate to comment on the specifics of any of the cases until they’re all adjudicated,” he said.

Lannert is a former U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam. He worked as a welder and mail handler and held other blue-collar jobs before retirement.

Lannert is perhaps best known for his yard in the 300 block of South 29th Street. It’s filled with political signs, as well as a scrap-metal cross, Confederate flag and homemade cannon.

Signs in support of President Donald Trump are mixed with messages such as, “Democrats are racist,” “Durbin no free speech Nazi,” “Tampon Tim loves ICE,” “Clarence Thomas for president,” “Illinois Land of Sheep,” “J.B. Pritzker sucks” and “BLACK PEOPLE it’s okay to leave the plantation.”

“There’s no more room in my yard to put up signs, so I guess I’ve got to put them somewhere else,” Lannert said, noting that this was another reason he rented the billboard at West Main and 29th Street.

Two years ago, a group of about 25 protesters marched past Lannert’s home carrying their own signs, reading “No racism in our neighborhoods” and “Fight white supremacy.”

In 2020, the state’s attorney’s office charged Lannert with falsely making a terrorist threat, a Class 1 felony; harassment by telephone, a Class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor.

Lannert had allegedly threatened to blow up the BND building in a phone message and letter after complaining that people had vandalized his yard signs supporting Trump’s reelection campaign, thrown rocks at his window and torn an American flag off his car.

Lannert maintained that newspapers were against Trump and in favor of his opponent, former President Joe Biden, and that the BND had declined to publish some of his letters to the editor.

“Well, anyway, I’m wondering what I should do with all this stockpile of fertilizer and dynamite I got in my basement,” he said in his message. “I don’t know what I should do with it yet, maybe blow up the doggone News-Democrat ‘cause they’re so biased against Trump.”

Belleville detectives searched Lannert’s home and determined that he had no such stockpile, according to police.

Also in 2020, Lannert was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, a Class 4 felony, for allegedly speeding toward pedestrians in his truck in downtown Belleville. A group of mothers told police he yelled racial slurs at their young daughters, who were doing a photo shoot.

Lannert frequently refers to this case at City Council meetings, denying the mothers’ version of what happened.

“The Belleville Police Department was too lazy to come out and ask for my version,” he said Thursday.

In 2023, all pending charges against Lannert up to that point were considered at one hearing in St. Clair County Circuit Court. As part of a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to the three charges resulting from the BND threat, as well as a 2017 misdemeanor charge of carrying a concealed firearm in an alcohol establishment.

The two aggravated assault charges related to the photo shoot were dismissed, along with two misdemeanor charges of criminal trespass to a building from 2017 and 2020.

Lannert was sentenced to 30 months of probation and 30 hours of community service and required to pay fines and court costs.

On Thursday, Lannert said he would be embarrassed to ask to work for a local organization to meet his community service requirement after having his bond set at $1 million in the more recent case.

“I might be a serial killer for all they know,” he said.

This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 5:15 AM.