

PEORIA — Not long after learning about the parody Twitter account @Peoriamayor, the city’s real mayor, Jim Ardis, told police he wanted to find out who was publishing sometimes vulgar messages there, according to a search warrant filed Thursday.



The warrant, filed in Peoria County Circuit Court, details a two- to three-week process whereby Peoria police tracked down the location of the Internet address used for the account as well as the identity of the person who paid for the Web access.



Two judges signed off on warrants to get information from Twitter and Comcast. Another judge approved a Tuesday afternoon raid of 1220 N. University St., which led to one arrest for marijuana possession but no charges related to the Twitter account or any of the posts.



Jacob Elliott, 36, of the University Street address, was held on $3,000 bond for marijuana possession. Elliott, who has no criminal record, was released from Peoria County Jail on Thursday. His next court date is May 15 for a preliminary hearing.



According to the charge, Elliott was accused of possessing between 30 and 500 grams of marijuana. No mention was made during his five-minute hearing Thursday about the Twitter account.



Police were informed of the account by Ardis on March 12. The tweets implied “Mayor Ardis utilizes illegal drugs, associates with prostitutes and utilized offensive inappropriate language,” according to an affidavit filed for the warrant.



He reported it to the police and said he didn’t authorize anyone to “create the account using his personal photograph or information from his elected office.”



“Additionally, he wished to pursue the incident,” the affidavit said.



On March 14, Judge Kirk Schoebein signed off on a warrant seeking subscriber information from Twitter. On March 29, two days after Twitter gave police the information they requested, Judge Lisa Wilson approved a warrant for Comcast to find out where the person who used the Internet to access Twitter lived. On April 1, Elliott was identified as the Comcast subscriber for 1220 N. University St., the affidavit said.



Two weeks later, Judge Kim Kelley approved the warrant to search the house. Police seized several iPhones, two Xbox video game consoles, computers, pieces of mail, drug paraphernalia, alleged marijuana and digital memory cards.







Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @andykravetz.





Complaint for search warrant