One Of Joliet's Most Arrested Men Faces New Domestic Violence Charges, SAFE-T-Act Detention Sought

JOLIET, IL — Joliet resident Dustin Megrant was slated to appear before Will County Judge Sarah Jones on Wednesday for his SAFE-T-Act detention hearing. For the fourth time since November, Megrant has been booked into Will County's Jail. His latest Joliet Police Department arrest happened last weekend, resulting in three new domestic battery charges.

Megrant is 57 years old and lives in the 1400 block of Joliet's Clara Avenue.

According to the Will County State's Attorney's Office petition to deny pretrial release, around 11:45 p.m. last Saturday, Joliet police were sent to the house on Clara Avenue for another domestic disturbance. The officers saw a woman in the front of the residence who had swelling and dark bruising around her left eye. She also had a swollen lip with blood on the left side of her face. She told the officers she had an argument with Megrant, but she denied the argument turned physical, court files outline.

The woman claimed she fell down the stairs while inside the house and that she hit her head on a pole. Officers told her that her eye appeared to have been struck and she ultimately remarked, 'Yeah, he got me,'" as she pointed to her eye, prosecutors noted.

Later, the woman changed her statement, suggesting that she fell and hit her head on the corner of an object.

Joliet police also interviewed an eyewitness from inside the house, and he saw Megrant and the woman arguing in the kitchen, court files allege. The woman had a plate in her hand near the stove when Megrant knocked the plate out of her hand, and it shattered on the ground, prosecutors indicated.

Megrant then told the woman to hit him and lunged at her, causing her to fall to the floor near the stove, court documents show.

Megrant proceeded to hit the woman multiple times while she was on the floor, the male eyewitness told Joliet police. After the officers gained consent to search the house for Megrant, they found him barricaded in the garage, hiding inside a vehicle and partially covering himself with a piece of cloth, court files noted.

Megrant later told Joliet police he hid from them due to him not wanting to be arrested for a domestic, but he denied harming or attacking the woman, according to the petition. The criminal complaint accused Megrant of hitting the woman about the head, pushing the woman's body and knocking a glass plate out of her hand. Megrant was also convicted in 2016 in Will County of unlawful violation of an order of protection, the criminal complaint indicated.

Separately, the Will County State's Attorney's Office filed a petition to revoke pretrial release for Megrant, noting that he already has pending Will County charges of burglary to a vehicle, criminal trespass to a vehicle and aggravated domestic battery.

"The defendant was ordered to have no offensive contact with the victim in 26CF75. That person is the same victim in this case," the prosecutor's filing indicated. "Given the independent witness account, the defendant has violated that order ... no condition or combination of release would reasonably ensure the appearance of the defendant for later hearings or prevent the defendant from being charged with a subsequent felony or Class A misdemeanor."

Back on Jan. 14, Will County Judge Sarah Jones signed the pretrial release order for Megrant. In her order, the judge ordered Megrant to have no offensive contact with the female victim and to undergo drug tests on all court dates.

In January, Megrant was the subject of a Joliet Patch crime story headlined, "Long-time Joliet Criminal Chases Roommate With Wooden Stick, Hits Woman In Eye With Lighter: Prosecutors."