Walmart TV Thefts: Armed Robbery, Organized Retail Crime Charges Filed

JOLIET, IL — A 48-year-old woman from Joliet's 500 block of Wilcox Street faces charges of armed robbery, aggravated robbery, robbery, burglary, aggravated battery and organized retail crime in connection with the theft of two televisions from Joliet's Walmart store at 2424 W. Jefferson St.

Back on Jan. 16, Joann Mendez-Gonzales stole televisions in the presence of a male Walmart employee "by threatening the imminent use of force, while she carried a knife on or about her person or was otherwise armed with a dangerous weapon, a knife," according to her criminal complaint.

She is also accused of pushing the Walmart employee during her crimes. The organized retail crime charge states that Mendez-Gonzales "in concert with another individual, knowingly committed the act of retail theft ... from Walmart."

On Wednesday, Joliet Patch reached out to Joliet Police Department spokesman Dwayne English for more details of the January crime.

So far, Gonzales is the only person taken into custody. Her total bail remains at $140,000.

According to English:

• At 6:25 p.m. on Jan. 16, Joliet police were sent to Walmart on Jefferson for a retail theft.
• Officers learned that a man and a woman put two televisions in their cart and walked out of Walmart without paying.
• An employee tried to stop the thieves by grabbing their cart, and that's when the woman struck him in the chest and pointed a pocketknife at him, threatening to stab him.
• A second Walmart worker tried to chase the thieves into the parking lot.
• When the employee tried to grab the televisions from her cart, her accomplice punched him and threatened to stab him. The man reached for his pocket, but did not produce a knife.
• The man and woman sped away in their vehicle with the stolen TVs.
• In the coming days, Joliet police detectives identified Mendez-Gonzales as the female suspect. An arrest warrant was secured on March 3.
• Mendez-Gonzales was already in the Will County Jail on previous charges, and the Walmart charges were added.