Mojoes Faces Yet Another Overcrowding Charge

Mojoes in Joliet is facing yet another charge for overcrowding.

According to Joliet city attorney John Wise, police received information that Mojoes had sold tickets over its 500-person occupancy for a May 6 show.

“Individuals from the police department and the fire department went to Mojoes that night and when the show ended they counted the people as they exited the building and it was over occupancy,” Wise said.

According to Wise, it was over occupancy by more than 70 people.

Mojoes will have a status hearing June 5 where owner Chris Triebes will enter a plea.

“If they plead not guilty, we’ll send it over and have a full hearing,” Wise said.

If a guilty plea is entered, Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, who also serves as the city’s liquor commissioner, could make a decision that day regarding what disciplinary action he will impose.

Mojoes will already have its liquor license suspended from 4 p.m. June 14 to 4 p.m. June 17 for an incident April 11 that included overcrowding and minors being in an area where liquor was served.

On May 17, shots were fired at the club. Police responded to the incident and noticed the club was again operating over capacity. Mojoes was charged with that offense, as well as letting an event attended by minors run past 10:30 p.m. and for creating a nuisance.

With the May 6 incident, there are now four charges levied against Mojoes. What this means for Mojoes is a possibility of a fine up to $1,500 for each charge, its liquor license could be suspended for up to 30 days, its entertainment permit could be suspended for up to 180 days or its license could be revoked.

Joliet Mayor and liquor commissioner Bob O’Dekirk said after Mojoes’ liquor license suspension that was announced May 14, he had a meeting with Triebes and told him he knows what Mojoes brings to downtown Joliet.

“I see the people that they bring in on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night when there’s nothing else going on downtown,” O’Dekirk said. “I want to work with them. I understand that they’re able to sell 750 or 1,000 tickets and they’re in this to make money, they want to make as much money as they can, so I understand the predicament they’re in. In some cases, with the money they have to pay acts, they can’t turn a profit at 500 tickets. So we talked about maybe a larger location and I was pretty clear that we wanted to work with them, but they had to stay within the parameters. We can’t have someone get hurt or get killed there while they’re looking for a new place.”

O’Dekirk said it was “disturbing” that so soon after he talked with Mojoes there was the incident that happened May 17.

“We had just talked about it and (I) thought we had an understanding,” O’Dekirk said. “To have it happen again so soon was disturbing.”