$136,000 Stolen By Joliet Walmart Employee: Forfeiture

JOLIET, IL — A 47-year-old employee at the Joliet Walmart store on West Jefferson Street now faces the forfeiture of her 2015 Jeep Cherokee after an audit determined that Melissa Vanderwall stole $135,988 from the store on Nov. 27, new court filings show.

The forfeiture complaint was filed at the Will County Courthouse.

On Dec. 15, a Will County grand jury indicted Vanderwall on two felonies, theft and burglary, following a Joliet police investigation. Vanderwall has not been taken into custody by authorities in Will County. Her warrant is still active on the Will County warrants website, which does not have a photo of her.

Vanderwall's whereabouts are unknown and it's unclear where she was living prior to the Joliet police warrant issued for her arrest.

Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley told Patch that Joliet police contacted his agency to check out the address on West Grand Ridge Road in Mazon where Vanderwall was listed as residing, according to the Will County arrest warrant.

Briley said Grundy County deputies later learned that Vanderwall has not lived at the address for at least 10 years.

This week's Will County forfeiture complaint provides extensive details surrounding the criminal case against Vanderwall.

According to the forfeiture documents:

• On Nov. 29, Joliet police officer Matt Pesce was called to the Walmart store at 2424 West Jefferson St. to investigate a past theft. A loss prevention employee told Pesce that Vanderwall stole money from two different cash recyclers. The cash recyclers are similar to ATMs, and retail stores use them to restock their cash registers.
• The Joliet Walmart general manager informed Joliet police that the cash recyclers had deposits from Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

• Video surveillance footage showed Vanderwall emptying both cash recyclers and placing the cash into a Walmart reusable shopping bag between 3:33 p.m. and 3:38 p.m. on Nov. 27.
• Before leaving the store on Nov. 27, Vanderwall gave her "manager" keys to a fellow Walmart supervisor, claiming she had a family emergency.
• Vanderwall then left the store with the cash, driving away in the blue Jeep Cherokee that is now the subject of this week's Will County civil forfeiture filing.

The forfeiture complaint notes that a Walmart employee later spoke with Vanderwall's daughter, who had called the store looking for her mother. Vanderwall's daughter told the store employee that she went to her mother's property in Mazon and found a note on the door stating, "I'm gone. The house is under foreclosure."

Officer Pesche later learned that Walmart's asset protection coach conducted an audit of the cash recyclers and found that the left cash recycler was missing $31,003; the right cash recycler was missing $21,499, and there was also $83,486 in cash missing from the deposit that was housed in the cash recyclers.

The $83,486 deposit was scheduled for an armored vehicle pickup, to be delivered to the bank.

Joliet police learned that Vanderwall "emptied both cassettes from each machine containing the $20 and $100 dollar bills, as well as the cassettes containing the overflow cash.

"In total, Melissa had taken a total of four cassettes worth of cash, totaling $135,988," the Jeep forfeiture noted.

Now, Glasgow's prosecutors are asking that a Will County judge to declare Vanderwall's 2015 Jeep Cherokee to be a forfeited asset for the police because she used the Jeep to transport herself to and from the location where the burglary took place, and to transport the proceeds away from the scene, court records reflect.

A hearing on the civil forfeiture case is set for Feb. 8 at the Will County Courthouse.

As for Vanderwall, her two felony charges remain on hold because she has not been taken into custody.

A Joliet police warrant for her arrest dated Nov. 30 listed her employer as Walmart.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Walmart Employee Faces 2 Felonies, Joliet Police Get Arrest Warrant