Staple Found In Joliet Murder Defendant's Cereal: Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Denny's Restaurant first-degree murder defendant Joshua Topaz Anderson has filed another lawsuit, this one alleges that Anderson found a staple in his cereal in the Will County Jail in April.

Anderson's lawsuit against the Will County Adult Detention Facility is seeking $10,000.

A resident of Chicago, Anderson has been in the Will County Jail since May 22, 2019. Now, he is 23 years old.

Anderson typed in his lawsuit that he "has been on a religious kosher diet since May 2021 until present." On April 8, he and other inmates were called to collect breakfast trays at 6:30 a.m.

After Anderson got his breakfast tray in the jail, Anderson walked to the milk cart to pour milk into his cereal "and noticed a foreign substance which looked to be a staple in his cereal," Anderson claimed in his lawsuit.

Anderson noted he immediately reported the incident to a correction officer with the last name of Rodriguez "who agreed it looked to be a staple in plaintiff's cereal."

"When plaintiff tried to grab this staple, it slipped to the bottom of his cereal bowl. Plaintiff then walked directly to the drain by the phones, poured the milk out of his cereal and was able to grab the staple, hold it up to the dayroom camera and give it to deputy A. Rodriguez," Anderson's lawsuit contends.

According to Anderson's pro se lawsuit, "plaintiff could have died if he would have mistakenly eaten the staple, and that would have greatly caused plaintiff's family anxiety and stress. Plaintiff goes through mental stress daily worrying if his kosher food will have a life-threatening object in it. Kosher meals are supposed to be safe and fit to eat, but the meal the kitchen sent plaintiff wasn't."

Anderson alleged in his lawsuit that Will County's kitchen staff and Warden Dale Santerelli violated the county jail standard for food services, food preparation and service.

"The W.C.A.D.F. needs to do a better job of following the county jail standards," Anderson wrote. "Plaintiff has noticed that W.C.A.D.F. doesn't have medical staff screen detainees prior to the detainees commencing work in food service areas."

Anderson wrote that the Will County Jail "is willing to risk the plaintiff's and other detainees' lives letting anyone handle the food. No one knows what these pod workers or tender workers will do to the food if they aren't screened by medical staff because they could have severe mental issues."

This is not Anderson's first pro se lawsuit against the Will County Jail.

Joliet Patch published a story about Anderson on June 11, 2021, headlined: "Denny's Murder Defendant Sues County Jail Over Mattress."

"I was denied upon request the basic hygiene items that the rule book on page 2 states should be given to inmates upon arrival: toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, towel and no mattresses and was told to shut the f*** up, you don't need a mattress, by the correctional officer whose name is unknown," Anderson's 2021 lawsuit states. "He was white, older, looked to be around 60 with glasses. On his break he also told the correctional officer who was relieving him ... that if I asked for a mattress not to give it to me."

Meanwhile, Anderson's bail remains set at $5 million.

Besides facing first-degree murder charges, the young man from Chicago faces charges of robbery and armed robbery.

On the night of April 30, 20219, 36-year-old Crest Hill resident Gregory G. Brown Jr. was gunned down by a single bullet in the parking lot of the Joliet Denny's Restaurant on Plainfield Road.

Prior to the slaying, Joliet police said, the homicide victim was inside the Denny's with one of Anderson's co-defendants.

In addition to Anderson, two co-defendants remain in the Will County Jail: Christopher C. Parker, 25, of Chicago, and Bobbie Ollom, 25, formerly of Joliet.

Parker, like Anderson, hasn't even gone to trial, yet. Ollom worked out a plea bargain with the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow, and she has not been sentenced.