Downstate Illinois man in custody for mailing suspicious letters to Schakowsky and other area representatives

A downstate man was charged in federal court Monday with sending threatening letters to members of Congress in the Chicago area, including one that U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9th District), a longtime Evanston resident, said was sent to her Skokie office. Matthew Unglesbee, 37, of Quincy, Illinois, was charged in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield with mailing threatening communications and with false information and hoaxes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In an eight-page criminal complaint, Charis Hobbs, an FBI task force officer, outlined the case against Unglesbee. Hobbs is a member of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis and is assigned to the FBI Springfield Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Hobbs wrote that the FBI received an anonymous online tip Oct. 16 from someone who said they overheard Unglesbee in a restaurant say he had mailed suspicious substances to members of Congress. On Oct. 21, agents from the