McHenry CEO got order of protection against ex-employee. Why is she the one now charged?

The CEO of a prominent McHenry County company has been charged with unlawfully tracking a man whom she'd received court protection against, saying he was harassing her. But he was only served notice of the order of protection this week.

The CEO of McHenry -based Follett Content Solutions has been charged with illegally placing an Apple AirTag on a former employee’s vehicle, months after a judge granted her a stalking no-contact order against the same man that court records indicate was not served until Wednesday. Britten Follett was charged earlier this month with unlawful use of an electronic tracking device, a Class A misdemeanor, McHenry County court records show. Court and police records indicate the man was never formally served notice of the two-year protective order – granted more than eight months ago – until Wednesday, after Follett’s attorney again requested the action in court.

Follett filed the request for the order of protection against the man about nine months ago, court records show. He has not been charged with any crime related to the claims made in the request for the protective order, which states he was fired from Follett Content Solutions over messages he sent to and about the CEO. According to the misdemeanor complaint against Britten Follett, the AirTag “was on and was tracking” and “was then found by [the] owner of the vehicle.”

Authorities discovered through Apple records that the AirTag was owned by Follett, court and police records say. Court records show that Follett had filed a petition seeking an emergency order of protection against the man on Oct. 6. The petition said the man had sent “dozens of direct messages” to her social media accounts “threatening forceful sex from behind and offering me $9K to have his baby.”

The request also said the man created an Instagram account with a description saying, “Will you marry me Britten?” and that the account “followed no other handles” and was created “just to interact with me.” The request for the order of protection also stated: “After confirming he was an employee, HR investigated the situation, put him on administrative leave and terminated him after he admitted to sending the CEO (me) sexually explicit messages.” But, according to the petition, the threatening postings continued after the man’s firing.

Dozens of “violent and threating [sic] messages on X” were discovered with a handle matching the man’s name and “upon further review of this X account, we found hundreds of posts dating back to mid-September, many related to rape and violent threats to me personally, threats of assassination to my husband and potential threats against our workplace at Follett Content Solutions.” Court records show Follett was granted an emergency no-contact protective order against the man, and then was granted a two-year “stalking no-contact” order that expires in October 2027, requiring the man to stay at least 1,000 feet away from her at all times.

Follett’s attorney, Jamie Wombacher, said she is “frustrated with the system” in regards to how the order of protection was handled. In court on the tracking charge against Follett Wednesday, Wombacher again asked that the order of protection be served against the man. Court records made available Thursday indicate the man was served notice Wednesday afternoon.

A statement sent to Shaw Local from Follett Content reads: “Follett Content’s first priority is to ensure the safety and security of all its employees, making the series of facts involved in this situation hard to understand. It’s not clear to us why the judicially issued stalking no-contact order against [the man] has gone months without being served while allegations made by the very individual Ms. Follett sought protection from seem to have been acted on immediately.” In response to a Freedom of Information Act The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office released a police report on the investigation of the alleged unlawful tracking.

But the office did not respond to requests for comment about the case, including why the order of protection had not yet been served at that point. On the misdemeanor tracking allegation, Follett was issued pretrial release conditions that include refraining from “contact or communication with the victim” and “entering or remaining at the victim’s residence.” Follett appeared in court via Zoom at the Wednesday hearing in her misdemeanor case, at which she entered a not-guilty plea.

Wombacher said earlier that she will “vigorously defend” the charge made against Follett. Follett “fully cooperated” and turned herself in the same day a warrant was issued, Wombacher said. According to the McHenry County Sheriff’s police report, the man’s mother reported to police in early June that a friend had borrowed his car and the friend “got an alert that an Apple Air Tag was on the vehicle.”

The car was then taken by the owner to a mechanic in Crystal Lake , who discovered the AirTag inside a black magnetic box that had been placed inside one of the car’s wheel wells, according to the police report. Police subpoenaed Apple Inc. and received a response that Britten Follett was the account holder of the AirTag, authorities wrote in the sheriff’s report. The police report also states that an investigator followed up with the man “regarding what he wanted to do with the case since he is the victim.”

The man stated he’d talked with his mother and “would like to pursue charges going forward.” Follett Content Solutions is one of McHenry County’s largest employers, with more than 700 local employees. Britten Follett is the fifth generation of the family to run the company .