Residential Burglary Defendant In Joliet Too Dangerous To Return To Community: Judge Jennifer Lynch

JOLIET, IL — A 26-year-old Joliet man from the 1800 block of Copperfield Avenue will remain in Will County's Jail indefinitely following his arrest by Joliet police on charges of residential burglary. Jorge Velez-Vasquez is also charged with unlawful possession of three or more debit or credit cards, criminal trespass and criminal property damage.

Last week's SAFE-T-Act presiding Will County Judge John Pavich set free multiple inmates facing serious crimes, including strangling and sexual assault defendants, plus a suspected gunman from Chicago who ran from Joliet police at the Gateway Transportation Center. However, this past weekend's holiday court judge, Democrat Jennifer Lynch of Joliet, agreed with the Will County State's Attorney's Office petition seeking to keep Velez detained under the dangerousness standard of the Illinois SAFE-T-Act.

According to the prosecution's petition, Joliet police responded to a house in the 300 block of Mississippi Avenue for a residential burglary on Feb. 22. The homeowner said she left her house at 10:20 a.m. and returned at noon and saw her rear door forced open. She found her son's bedroom in disarray, with clothes and other belongings scattered on the floor. The room was clean before she left.

Inside her room, the woman saw items pulled out of her dressers, and someone got into her locked safe and stole her and her children's passports, Social Security cards, and 30 credit cards the woman had in her name.

The woman indicated to Joliet police that the only people who knew the passcode to the safe were herself and her ex-boyfriend, Jorge Velez-Vasquez, who had not resided at her residence for more than a month, court files show.

The victim told Joliet's officers that her son later received a call from Velez while they were out asking if anyone was at the residence and that her son responded no. Joliet police found that the back door was forced open and that was the only door out of their three doors not covered by their home surveillance camera system. Velez had lived at the house between April 2025 and January 2026, when the romantic relationship ended, and he "had knowledge of the cameras as well as the location of the safe and combo," prosecutors informed Judge Lynch.

After the residential burglary, the victim received several notifications that some of her stolen credit cards were used at places such as Ulta Beauty at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago mall at Rosemont, Saks Off 5th Avenue at the same outlet mall, the Swarovski jewelry store at Chicago Premium Outlets in Aurora and the Buckle store at the Louis Joliet Mall, plus there was a cash advance on a Macy's credit card.

Joliet police also learned that the victim had seen a tan GMC Envoy driving in front of her house, going around the block to Fourth Avenue, and then coming back in full view one of her security surveillance cameras.

On Feb. 26, Joliet police made a traffic stop of a man suspected of owning the GMC Envoy and "he advised he drove the defendant over to (the victim's) house in the GMC and then proceeded to drive the defendant to various locations to make purchases," prosecutors noted. "Some of the purchases were captured on surveillance footage from Saks Off Fifth ... which showed the defendant and (him) enter the store on the date of the residential burglary around 2:33 p.m. ... a short time later, the defendant approaches the checkout counter and attempts to use four different credit cards that belong to the" victim, prosecutors outlined.

After the house burglary, the victim confronted Velez and he sent her a text message vowing to "beat the f*** out of you bitch," prosecutors noted. Velez also threatened to contact a family member of his who works at DCFS and have an investigation opened into the woman regarding her children, court records note.

Two days before the residential burglary, Velez went to her east side of Joliet house to speak to her about their relationship ending. She told Velez she did not want to speak with him and asked him to leave, prosecutors pointed out. Afterward, Velez sent her a text message saying he was in her basement and was going to turn the power to the house off if she did not speak to him. The woman obtained an emergency order of protection against Velez due to her safety, court documents noted.

As for Velez, he has pending charges from September 2025 of aggravated DUI, DUI and driving with a suspended license here in Will County. He spent 30 days in the Will County Jail in 2019 for illegal possession of ammunition.

By applying the dangerousness standard of the SAFE-T-Act, Velez can now expect to remain in the Will County Jail indefinitely, as his criminal cases proceed toward a trial.