The 'Pedophile Palace:' Neighborhood Park Doesn't Get Built By Joliet

JOLIET, IL — It's been 16 months since Joliet Patch broke the news of the so-called "Pedophile Palace," the two-story apartment building at 1000 Cora Street where as many as 11 convicted sexual predators all live together under the same roof on the city's west side.

After leaders of the Cunningham Neighborhood discovered the existence of the "Pedophile Palace," as they began calling it, then-Mayor Bob O'Dekirk, the Joliet City Council and then-City Manager Jim Capparelli took an interest in the issue and vowed to try to stop the out-of-town company, NewDay Apartments, from bringing more sex offenders to live in Joliet's neighborhoods.

Last December, Patch reported that the Cora Street property was owned by a Lake Zurich company called NewDay Apartments. NewDay focuses on finding affordable housing for convicted sex offenders who have finished serving their prison sentences at the Illinois Department of Corrections.

One year ago, Joliet's City Council agreed to purchase a vacant fire-damaged house at the corner of Moran and Center streets. City officials surmised that building a neighborhood park and playground would force NewDay to close its sex offender apartment on Cora, because sex offenders are prohibited from living within 500 feet of playgrounds in Illinois.

The Council voted to purchase the house at the suggestion of Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

"I think as a community, all of us can agree, this is not the proper thing to do," O'Dekirk said last year. "There was a bus stop for Joliet Central High School immediately in front of this address. Joliet Central did not know what was going on inside, the city of Joliet did not what was going on inside, Cunningham School is two blocks away, Holy Cross has a learning center, which is a block away.

"This is not something we are not going to tolerate here in Joliet."

By December, the fire-damaged house at Moran and Center was demolished by Grosshening, a Joliet-area company. At that time, John Sheridan, president of the Cunningham Neighborhood Association, said it was his belief the new playground should be in use around June.

He said he was hoping the new park would include playground equipment rather than just a pathway with a couple of benches for people to sit. "That makes it more of a playground rather than a flower garden and benches," he said.

Then on Friday, Joliet Patch visited the property and confirmed that the city of Joliet did not build the new neighborhood playground after all.

In fact, construction of the playground has not even started.

And now that the construction season is almost over with winter nearing, it appears unlikely that any type of playground will be built on the new city-owned site in 2023.

Meanwhile, NewDay continues to pack more and more registered sexual offenders into 1000 Cora Street. When Joliet Patch first broke the story in May 2022, there were five dangerous predators all living under the same roof at 1000 Cora.

By the end of last year, that number grew to eight.

Now, according to the current Illinois Sexual Offender Registry, kept by the Illinois State Police, a total of 11 sexual offenders are all listed as residing at 1000 Cora Street in Joliet:

New additions to 1000 Cora Street during 2023:

Tomasz Potkaj

VICTIM WAS 12 YEARS OF AGE

OFFENDER WAS 31 AT THE TIME OF THE OFFENSE

Crimes: GROOMING

County of Conviction:Will County

Justino Hernandez

VICTIM WAS 5 YEARS OF AGE

OFFENDER WAS 49 AT THE TIME OF THE OFFENSE

Will County Crimes: AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL SEXUAL ABUSE

Joel Bickford

• VICTIM WAS 10 YEARS OF AGE
• OFFENDER WAS 30 AT THE TIME OF THE OFFENSE

Crimes: CHILD PORNOGRAPHY/FILM/PHOTOS

County of Conviction: Not listed, just says "U.S."

Original tenants of 1000 Cora Street still residing here:

Arturo Arce was paroled from the Danville Correctional Center, where he served an 11-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2012 of predatory criminal sexual assault in Kane County. Arce was 44 and his victim was 13.

Richard Rheinschmidt was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault in Winnebago County. Rheinschmidt was 56 and his victim was 8.

Darnell Thompson was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault in Cook County when Thompson was 32 and his victim was 8.

Rochelle "Rocky" Taylor was convicted of child pornography in Cook County when Taylor was 57 and the victim was 8.

Other sexual predators who have also lived at 1000 Cora Street since 2022:

Luis Pereira was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse in DuPage County. Pereira was 41 when he committed his crimes, and his victim was 6 years old.

Juan Ferreras was convicted in Cook County of criminal sexual assault/victim 13 to 17, indecent solicitation of a child, aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault. The sex offender registry does not list Ferreras' age at the time of his crimes, but it states his victim was 11 years old.

James Stricken was 33 years old, and his victim was less than 1 year old when he committed criminal sexual assault/force, here in Will County, in 1993. At the time of his subsequent 2020 weapons arrest, Stricken had lived in the 200 block of Joliet's Third Avenue.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

'Pedophile Palace' Increases To 8? Will Joliet Close It Down In 2023?

'Pedophile Palace' Won't Stay On Cora Street, O'Dekirk Reveals

'Pedophile Palace' In Joliet: Republican Candidates Vow Action

5 Sexual Predators Move Into Joliet West Side Neighborhood