After over two years of delays, two New Lenox business owners are set for trial in a Will County court this week for several alleged fraud and forgery charges that were dropped over the summer and refiled by the state.

Will County prosecutors on Monday dismissed charges of theft by deception and burglary against Jeffery Regnier, the owner of Kee Firearms and Training, and Greta Keranen, with Kee Construction. But three of the five charges they refiled in August remain.

Laura Byrne, a spokesperson for the Will County state’s attorney’s office, declined to comment or clarify the decision to drop the charges, saying the matter is pending and the trial is ongoing.

Regnier and Keranen still face a forgery charge, and Keranen is also charged with loan fraud and wire fraud. Both waived their right to a jury trial Monday, so the case will be heard and decided by Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak, the same judge who denied the prosecutors’ request to reschedule the trial in July, which led to the state dropping the charges.

Regnier said it was a tough decision to choose a bench trial, but he said it came down to the technical details of the case. He said Bertani-Tomczak might better understand the case details because she has overseen it for about two years.

Regnier and Keranen were first charged with several felonies for fraud and theft in 2023 for various applications filed for Economic Injury Disaster Loan, Paycheck Protection Program and unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Plattos said in court Monday he hoped dropping the two charges would cause a judge’s ruling on a related case to be seen as irrelevant in trial decisions.

Plattos referred to Will County Judge Jennifer Lynch’s July decision to return Regnier and Keranen’s four vehicles and Fidelity Investment accounts valued at $5.5 million, seized as a part of officials investigation. Lynch cited excessive fines in her ruling against the state. The defendants’ attorneys argued this ruling should be considered in the current trial.

Bertani-Tomczak said Monday she did not see how it was irrelevant and called the state’s arguments “convoluted.”

The remaining charges focus on whether the business owners lied about their gross monthly profits and ability to pay bills in their COVID-19 pandemic relief fund loan applications.

Jeff Regnier, owner of Kee Firearms and Training in New Lenox, in his store in 2022. (Alexandra Kukulka/Daily Southtown)

Bertani-Tomczak ruled Monday the business owners’ 2023 tax returns cannot be introduced during the trial. Prosecutors said the returns would shed light on the question and planned to call Paul Yaras from the Illinois Department of Revenue to describe the numbers in the tax returns.

But the defendants’ attorneys argued they did not receive the documents, which included hundreds of pages, until less than a week before the trial, not giving them enough time to review them.

Testimony in the case will begin Tuesday with the trial expected to last a few days.

The New Lenox business partners still face a second round of charges in Will County, including money laundering and filing a fraudulent Illinois sales and use tax return, that are scheduled for a status update Tuesday.

Kee Firearms closed after the initial charges were brought in 2023. The once popular gun shop was also a source of training for area gun owners.

awright@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/17/kee-gun-shop-trial-begins/