Wilmington's Violent Carl Ellis Pleads Guilty To His Crimes, Ends Up At Big Muddy Correctional Center

WILMINGTON, IL — If you live around Joliet, Wilmington or Essex, you have not seen one familiar face around those communities this summer. That's because 33-year-old Carl Ellis is now doing hard time — again. After spending eight months in the Will County Jail, Ellis worked out a plea agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office to resolve all of his pending criminal cases, dating back as far as July 2021 to his newest ones from last October.

Although Ellis received two seven-year prison sentences to the Illinois Department of Corrections from Will County Judge John Connor, Ellis' caught a break. He can serve both of his sentences at the same time, not one after the other.

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According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Ellis will remain at Big Muddy Correctional Center until at least Nov. 30, 2027, that's his projected parole date. The sentencing order shows Ellis received credit for a total of 464 days in the Will County Jail or on electronic monitoring and he only has to serve his seven-year prison term at 50 percent.

In recent years, Ellis was in and out of the Will County Jail committing a host of crimes and his problems with LSD and his propensity toward violence led to his latest prison term.

Last October, Joliet Patch referred to Ellis as one of the meanest men in Wilmington in an exclusive story that drew at 285 Facebook comments, 437 Facebook likes and 69 shares on the Joliet Patch Facebook page alone: "Wilmington's Carl Ellis Remains Jailed After Knocking Woman Out, Destroying His Ankle Bracelet: Prosecutors."

At the time, Patch reported how Ellis destroyed his electronic monitoring device, harmed a woman by knocking her out cold and then took the woman's 1-year-old child away from her. The child was eventually found safe.

According to prosecutors, the Will County Sheriff's Office responded to Ellis' residence in the 19500 block of West Goodwin Road, where the 28-year-old female victim told deputies she resides there with Ellis, their 1-year-old daughter and the woman's grandmother, who "lives on a structure on the property and not in the actual residence."

Deputies realized the victim was frantic, and had a swollen eye, red marks and bruises starting to form. She advised that Ellis hit her, took their child and left. The child's great-grandmother was also frantic, court files show, because she feared Ellis would harm his 1-year-old child.

The child was later found safe, police said.

The victim told deputies that she and Ellis were arguing about cell phones and that he took her cell phone and smashed it and in retaliation, she took Ellis' phone and smashed it. Ellis placed his 1-year-old daughter down and remarked, "Better call the cops because (she) is never seeing her kid again," prosecutors revealed.

Next, Ellis grabbed the child's mother and forced her to the ground and then he struck her, "which caused (her) to black out," court records indicate.

As for the electronic monitoring device, authorities went to a property in the 24800 block of Old Chicago Road and learned the device was removed by Ellis.

When Will County Pretrial Services turned on the audible alarm, they found the device down a gravel road on the west side of Old Chicago Road.

"The device appeared to be destructively removed at the locking mechanism," prosecutors noted.

In April, Joliet Patch reported that Will County Judge John Connor, who often utilizes the SAFE-T-Act to jail criminal defendants accused of violent crimes, rejected a motion submitted by his downtown Joliet lawyer, Cosmo Tedone. Tedone's motion stated in part, "the defendant wishes to modify his pretrial release conditions to be able to begin a 12-step outpatient treatment program with Abraxas Family Services."

According to one of Ellis' two recent plea bargains, Ellis pleaded guilty to his July 2021 charge of possession of controlled substances. "Defendant vehicle was stopped for suspended vehicle. Defendant had 15 to 100 portions of LSD," the plea bargain shows.

As for his October 2025 case, Ellis pleaded guilty to domestic battery with multiple priors. "Defendant struck his wife and has three prior convictions for domestic battery."

He will mark his 34th birthday on Oct. 25 at Big Muddy.