He 'Put His Hands Out To Be Arrested And Stated This Is My House And I'm Not Leaving': Prosecutors

JOLIET, IL — A 44-year-old Joliet man from the 1000 block of Highland Avenue is beginning his second week in the Will County Jail after being arrested by Joliet police on two misdemeanor crimes of violating an order of protection. Will County Judge Derek Ewanic ordered the indefinite detention of Moises Najera under the dangerousness standard of the SAFE-T-Act.

"The defendant's pretrial release poses a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons in the community," the Will County State's Attorney's Office filing declared.

According to court files, Joliet police officer Brown responded on Dec. 21 to Najera's house on Highland Avenue for an order of protection violation incident. The woman at the home informed Joliet police she obtained the order on Dec. 18.

She indicated they were in a dating relationship for 10 years and resided together at the house on Highland Avenue, along with their children. The woman indicated that she told Najera about the order of protection after she obtained it and "allowed Najera to stay at the residence to get his things together over the weekend," court documents reflect.

Earlier on Dec. 21, Najera left the house and was supposed to return at 12:30 p.m. However, he returned at 1 p.m. and was at a bar, court papers note. The woman advised Joliet police that Najera "has a drinking problem. This is why she obtained an order of protection against him because he can be verbally abusive when he is intoxicated," prosecutors pointed out.

In any event, Joliet police served Najera with the order of protection on the scene, and the officers informed him the house on Highland Avenue was now a protected address and "he cannot be there. Najera was given multiple opportunities to leave and refused to do so," court papers suggest. "At different points Najera even put his hands out to be arrested and stated that this is my house and I'm not leaving."

Officers even offered Najera a ride somewhere, suggesting that his brother could pick him up from the Joliet police station, but "Najera continued to refuse multiple times and wanted to talk to his children upstairs. Najera was then placed under arrest," prosecutors outlined in their petition.

As for Najera's past, he was sentenced in July to one year of court supervision for attempting to resist a police officer. He served 30 days in the Kane County Jail and drew 24 months supervision for a 2023 driving while license revoked offense. His other cases include a 2006 resisting a police officer in Cook County, criminal trespass in Cook County in 1999, contributing to the delinquency of a child in 1999 in Cook County, criminal trespass to state property in 1999 in Cook County and 1998 criminal trespass to state property.