Wilmington Ex-Con Provokes The Peace In 2025, Fails To Appear In Court, Joliet Police Catch Him: Prosecutors

JOLIET, IL — On any given day, Joliet police officers are capturing a half dozen people who are wanted for outstanding arrest warrants from other jurisdictions or bench warrants issued from Will County's judges. That's how 44-year-old Wilmington resident Eric Upchurch was captured this week.

Last year, Will County prosecutors charged Upchurch with two counts of disorderly conduct and one assault charge.

According to his criminal complaint, Wilmington police maintain that on July 16, 2025, Upchurch lunged at his female victim leaving her with a reasonable belief of being the victim of a battery. The two disorderly conduct charges allege that Upchurch chased after her and yelled at her, alarming her to the point that there was a breach of the peace.

According to the court records, Upchurch just stopped showing up at the Will County Courthouse for his pretrial hearings back in March. Finally, in May, one of Will County's judges issued a bench warrant for his arrest and this week the Joliet police captured Upchurch roaming around the community.

A review of Upchurch's court files shows that he pleaded guilty in January 2023 to aggravated battery of a police officer and received a four-year prison sentence. Three other charges were dropped under his guilty plea. At one point early on in 2022, Upchurch was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, but then three months later, in June 2022, his mental competency had been restored, court records indicate.

Upchurch remained incarcerated as of Thursday and the jail logs indicate he also faces a fugitive warrant out of the Lone Star state of Texas.

Joliet police arrest logs indicate that Upchurch was around 10 a.m. this Tuesday in the 500 block of Joliet's 2nd Avenue. The arrest log had his residence as the 100 block of South First Street back in Wilmington.