Pastor Accused Of Upskirt Videos At Target Terminated: Joliet Church

JOLIET, IL — A high-ranking Church of the Nazarene official in Chicago told Joliet Patch on Friday that Elias "Solomon" Jothi was terminated as pastor of Joliet's Crystal Lawns Church of the Nazarene once the congregation learned of Jothi's criminal prosecution surrounding several upskirt videos of a young woman shopping at the Target store on Plainfield Road.

The 26-year-old Jothi is from India, and he came to the United States a few years ago on a student visa, according to Dr. Larry McKain, district superintendent for the Chicago Central District Church of the Nazarene. McKain helps oversee 287 ministers assigned to 80 different churches in a 12-county region across the Chicago area, including Will and Grundy Counties.

Jothi served as the Crystal Lawns church pastor since early 2022, according to McKain. Even though Joliet police arrested Jothi and released him on an I-bond in August, the church did not know about Jothi's arrest until Joliet Patch ran an article on Oct. 6 about Jothi's prosecution.

Within a couple of days, the church board met, and voted to terminate Jothi immediately, McKain explained on Friday.

"The board was not aware of what was happening, and Solomon was terminated on the 8th (of October). He's very charismatic, very warm, very personable, it was a bombshell," McKain said.

Although the Sept. 26 charges of disorderly conduct and attempted unauthorized recording/live video transmission list his name in court files as Elias S. Jothi, McKain said "he went by Solomon," which is his middle name.

"The moment the board realized the nature of Solomon's behavior, he was immediately let go from the church," McKain emphasized in Friday's phone interview. "He is a citizen of India, and he was on the path to citizenship. His visa situation was totally connected, once he lost his job, he lost his legal status to stay in the United States. He could no longer legally reside in the United States. He has gone back to India.

"He has exited the country."

McKain said the Crystal Lawns church on Caton Farm Road is a small congregation, with about 100 members. The church is now in the process of conducting interviews in hopes of naming a new permanent pastor by spring.

On Sept. 26, Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow charged Jothi with two misdemeanors of unauthorized video/dissemination through clothes and disorderly conduct. An Illinois State Police fingerprinting report listed his employer as Crystal Lawns Church and his occupation as pastor.

However, Jothi will not be returning to the ministry at any point in the future, McKain said. "He voluntarily surrendered his credentials, and he is no longer a minister at all in the Church of the Nazarene," McKain told Joliet Patch.

'Have Mercy On Me A Sinner'

Through a Freedom of Information Act request, Joliet Patch obtained dozens of pages of Joliet police reports surrounding the criminal investigation at the Target store that led to Jothi's arrest and charges. The police obtained a search warrant for Jothi's phone and other electronic devices on Aug. 16, a week after the Target store incident.

Some of his keyword searches had the following words or phrases: "have mercy on me a sinner," "Joliet Patch" and also "the Joliet Police Department" on the day Jothi surrendered to police, Joliet police reports show.

According to Officer Danielle Reilly's police reports surrounding Jothi's arrest, Jothi visited the Target store on Plainfield Road during the early evening of Aug. 9. During the 18-minute period he entered the women's clothing section before exiting the women's department, Jothi used his Apple iPhone camera application a total of 11 times.

According to the data recovered from Jothi's phone, Joliet police noted, Jothi video recorded the young woman inside Target during the following times:

• 7:45 p.m. to 7:47 p.m.
• 7:47 p.m. through 7:48 p.m.
• 7:49 p.m. through 7:52 p.m.
• 7:52 p.m. through 7:53 p.m
• 7:53 p.m.for about 6 seconds
• 7:54 p.m. until almost 7:56 p.m.
• 7:56 p.m. to 7:57 p.m.
• 7:57 p.m. for about 20 seconds
• 7:57 p.m. through 7:58 p.m.
• 7:58 p.m. through 7:59 p.m.
• 7:59 p.m. through 8:03 p.m., an entire 4 minutes

In addition, while Jothi was in the Target making the upskirt videos, someone sent him a text, and he responded to them with two separate texts, including one stating, "On my way," police reports reflected.

"It should be noted that Elias was still in the women's department following the victim at the time these text messages were sent ... He did not leave the women's department until 8:03 p.m.," investigator Reilly noted.

The, three days later, on Aug. 12, Jothi returned to Target, but this time, security staff notified him he was banned from the store. "They told him it was due to a complaint from a female customer who stated she caught him recording her without her consent," Reilly wrote.

When Jothi met at the Joliet Police Station with detectives Brad McKeon and Paul Rodriguez, Jothi told them "that he deleted the videos he took of the victim. At this time, I have been unsuccessful at locating the deleted videos on the Cellbrite Report," Reilly wrote.

Meanwhile, on Aug. 17, two other members of the Joliet police force went to the Crystal Lawn Church of the Nazarene to meet with Jothi, who was accompanied by an unidentified "spiritual adviser," the police reports show.

There, Jothi provided Joliet police consent to search his laptop computer.

Target Store Victim Interviewed By Joliet Police

During the noon hour on Aug. 10, Officer Reilly and Detective Kristoff "Kristi" Petro interviewed the Target store victim. She relayed that the previous day, she went to Target to shop in the women's clothing section and by 8 p.m. she noticed the suspect, later identified as Jothi, also in the women's section. He wore a BLU shirt with cargo shorts with lots of pockets.

She told police she had never this man before. Being polite, the young woman asked if she could assist him in finding what he needed. He told her he was shopping for a dress for his wife.

Later, she walked to the fall display for jewelry in another and noticed Jothi had followed her. She jokingly asked him if he was looking for a necklace to match whatever dress he was looking to buy, the police report noted. At this point, Jothi only stood an elbow's length away from her, and "this is when (she) began to feel uncomfortable with him. She noticed him pick up a necklace that someone else had dropped off the ground and as he was reaching out for it, she distinctly remembers his phone in his hand, held in a position where the camera was facing up towards the ceiling of the store and pointed in her direction," Reilly's report reflected.

"It should be noted that (she) was wearing a mid-thigh length dress at the time of the incident."

The Target store victim told Joliet police that Jothi picked up several more items off the ground near where she stood. When he eventually walked away, she took a photo of the back of him, then she saw him return to the women's section, a second time.

The young woman told Joliet Police that her interaction with him lasted about 15 minutes, and "she believes he had tried recording or photographing under her dress at least four to five times. She even remembers seeing him check his phone after the fact, almost to see if he had captured anything," police reports reflect.

"The interaction made (the victim) so uncomfortable that she did not feel safe to walk to her car before him. She noticed him in the self-checkout, without any women's clothing or jewelry, and believed him to have one grocery item. When (she) felt safe enough to leave the store, she ended up seeing the suspect in his black SUV in the parking lot and she remembers seeing his face and quickly made note of the license plate."

According to Reilly's report, she obtained Target's video surveillance cameras showing the incident. "It should be noted that Elias appears to be hyper-aware of (her), glancing in her direction every few seconds. At 7:57 p.m. there is a moment where it looks like Elias is just biding time and appears to be staring right in (her) direction. (She) is the only other subject, aside from Elias, in this section of the store."

Jothi, who has remained free since being released on a $1,500 I-Bond by Joliet police in late August, has retained downtown Joliet defense lawyer Douglas DeBoer to represent him.

Jothi's case is on Will County's Courthouse docket for a pretrial hearing next week.