Joliet's Jerry Patton III Paroled From Illinois Department of Corrections, Moves Down To Rockdale

ROCKDALE, IL — After spending 14 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections, serving out a four-year prison sentence at the Vandalia Correctional Center, Joliet native Jerry Leon Patton III has returned to the area, resettling in the little town of Rockdale, after receiving parole.

The Department of Corrections sent out a notice to the Will County Courthouse in late summer advising that Patton had a projected prison release date within 15 days. Patton was originally supposed to stay in prison at Vandalia until Feb. 1, 2026; however, the state's prison system granted Patton parole and discharged him from the downstate penitentiary on Aug. 1. Patton was admitted as a prisoner on June 1, 2024.

Now 39 years old, Patton is residing in Rockdale at a friend's house in the 900 block of Otis Avenue, prison officials notified the courthouse. In late May 2024, Patton went to prison for the following crimes: a 2022 aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, a 2024 felon in possession of a dangerous weapon/firearm, another 2022 aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and a 2023 aggravated assault while operating a motor vehicle.

In May 2024, Joliet Patch reported that Patton, who was arrested by Joliet police in two different violent barroom attacks, worked out his plea agreement with the Will County State's Attorney's Office that netted Patton a four-year prison sentence at the Illinois Department of Corrections. The prison sentence was to be served at 50 percent, and Patton also received credit for some of the time he had already spent in the Will County Jail awaiting trial.

This year, in mid-September, a middle-aged Joliet woman obtained an order of protection against Patton to prevent the ex-prisoner from entering the TK's Deep End tavern on Joliet's McDonough Street. Back on March 18, 2024, Joliet police were called to TK's Deep End for a bar disturbance. When officers arrived, Patton was the only person still inside the bar — and he had a rifle, plus several items in his hands, court records pointed out.

When the Joliet police ordered Patton to drop the items — 1.76 grams of cocaine, a firearm magazine and a .22 caliber Muzzlelite Bullpup Ruger 10 rifle — he complied, according to prosecutors.

"I am requesting an order of protection against Jerry because (of) erratic behavior. I called the police on him two years ago and he went to jail for cases against him. He has been calling demanding money and drove my customers out of the bar. He is making threats against me (saying) I will destroy your bar and your life," the woman's order of protection from September reads.

This week, at the Will County Courthouse, there was also a hearing in Mark Tomac's civil lawsuit against Patton and Bobby's Tap on Joliet's Plainfield Road.

In November 2022, Tomac sustained a fractured orbital as well as severe damage to his retina and corneal abrasions after Joliet police said he was assaulted at Bobby’s Tap. Patton attacked Tomac and punched him in the head. Patton had been released from the Will County Jail six weeks earlier and had been previously arrested in connection with another bar fight, one at Joliet's City Tavern at the corner of Midland Avenue and West Jefferson Street.

According to Tomac's lawsuit filed by Joliet's Rathbun, Cservenyak and Kozal law firm, on Nov. 12, 2022, Tomac was a patron at Bobby's Tap, and was playing the slot machines when he walked away to go to the bar. While he was gone, a woman began to use the slot machine, even though Tomac still had bonus plays left on the machine.

When Tomac returned to the slot machine, he asked the woman to leave and that's when "a very intoxicated bar patron, Jerry Patton, involved himself in the conversation. Jerry Patton had been consuming alcohol at Bobby's Tap and was extremely intoxicated," Tomac's lawyers noted.

"Suddenly and without warning, Jerry Patton struck Mark Tomac's face with a closed fist. Jerry Patton swung at Mark Tomac multiple times before fleeing the scene with the female," the lawsuit noted.

Tomac's lawsuit against Patton and Bobby's Tap remains ongoing, and a trial date has not been yet. The next hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 6 in Courtroom 902.

Related Joliet Patch crime coverage of Jerry Leon Patton:

• Joliet's Jerry Patton Pleads Guilty In 2 Bar Attacks, Dog Incident
• 'My Life Changed In 30 Seconds': Tattoo Artist Attacked In Joliet Bar
• Man Who Beat Mark Tomac Tried To Run Over Dog in Crest Hill: PD
• Jerry Leon Patton Brings Rifle Into His Family's Joliet Bar