Downtown Joliet Public Library Security Guard Beaten, Taken To Hospital, 2 Arrests Lead To 4 Felony Charges

JOLIET, IL — Six weeks after one of the security guards at the downtown Joliet Public Library was taken away on an ambulance stretcher by the Joliet Fire Department, the Will County State's Attorney's Office has filed felony charges against two men suspected of inflicting the vicious beating.

Both men now face four crimes of aggravated battery against the Joliet Public Library security guard. They were identified as Franklin Cooley, 37, of Joliet and De’Angelo Green, age 36, of Joliet and processed at the Joliet Police Department and released on a notice to appear in court. Joliet Patch is not reporting the name of the security guard because he's considered a victim.

According to Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English, back on September 16, at 3:17 p.m., officers responded to the Joliet Public Library, 150 North Ottawa Street, for a report of a battery involving a library security guard.

He said that two men entered the library and began yelling slurs and making threats. A security guard escorted the men outside and followed them to the sidewalk along Chicago Street to ensure they left the property.

During the ensuing confrontation, both men repeatedly punched the guard in the face before fleeing the area, English revealed.

Officers reviewed surveillance footage that captured the confrontation and battery. The Joliet Fire Department transported the security guard to Saint Joseph Medical Center for treatment of his injuries.

On the afternoon of October 6, an officer saw two men walking southbound in the 0–100 block of South Des Plaines Street and recognized them as being the suspects from surveillance
footage and images of the incident. Officers located the men nearby and took them into custody, English revealed.

Joliet Community Activist Almost Abducted At Library In 2025

Last November, Joliet Patch reported that it's not uncommon to see the Joliet police officers responding to the downtown Joliet Public Library for various incidents several days a week. At a recent City Council meeting, community activist Trista Graves Brown revealed that a man who was thrown out of the library after Joliet police were called, then tried to abduct her, as she was pulling her wagon right outside the library, along Clinton Street.

Joliet Patch spoke with Brown after the meeting and she revealed that she became the victim of a crime around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8. She said the person who tried to abduct her was a white man, about 5-foot-11 to 6 feet tall, with salt-and-pepper hair and a "goofy-looking" face. She said he wore a yellow plaid shirt and drove a green pickup truck that may have side damage.

At the time of her trauma, Brown said she was pulling her wagon of books and supplies along the sidewalk on Clinton Street when the man made filthy sexual comments toward her.

"An incident happened to me, downtown Joliet, and I'm here about safety and protection. And the reason I have this strong hysteria is because I've been through some things. OK?... I'm always at the Joliet library and at the Joliet library I'm there at 9 o'clock a.m. to teach a class," Brown told the Joliet City Council. "That Saturday morning, I wasn't paying attention because I'm always there bringing stuff. And some man came and tried to abduct me, put his hands ... and said terrible things," Brown said, holding back tears. "And it triggered me back to when I was in third grade at that same library when someone tried to rape me. Everything that I forgot about, he triggered."

Brown told the City Council that she later found out the man "had been at the Joliet library on the second floor, trying to talk with, saying sexual things to a young kid.