Steak-N-Shake Robber Left With No Money: JPD

JOLIET, IL — A 27-year-old Joliet man is now lodged in Will County's Jail after Joliet Police say J.J. Amador tried to stickup the employees at the Steak 'n Shake restaurant on Plainfield Road around 8:30 a.m. Thursday. Joliet Police say Amador entered the restaurant and ordered his food, then while the employees were making his meal, Amador asked to use the Steak'n Shake telephone and the staff obliged.

"Shortly after the suspect used the phone," Joliet Police said, "he pulled out a handgun and demanded money. The staff was not able to get the money out of the register and the suspect then exited ... and fled westbound."

Nobody was injured during the crime, police noted. The Steak-n-Shake is open 24 hours. It's the only one left in Joliet. The restaurant on Larkin Avenue closed earlier this year.

A description of Thursday morning's armed robber was disseminated to on-duty Joliet Police officers and one of the officers spotted the suspect, Amador, in a parking lot in the 3000 block of Plainfield Road, police said.

The Steak 'n Shake where the robbery happened is the 2600 block of Plainfield Road, not far from the Louis Joliet Mall.

Joliet Police said that Amador, who lives in the 260 block of Republic Avenue, on the city's west side, was positively identified by the restaurant witnesses as being the armed robber. A search of the area where Amador was captured recovered a discarded gun, Joliet Police announced.

Amador was booked into county custody on the lone armed robbery with a gun charge around 11:30 a.m. He was also in the county jail in 2011 and 2014.