Walgreens Liquor Thief Arrested After 5th Crime: Joliet Police

JOLIET — Since April, the Joliet Walgreens staff at 1163 West Jefferson Street realized that someone kept stealing large amounts of their expensive alcohol products over and over. Walgreens turned to the Joliet Police Department for help and on Wednesday, the officers made an arrest, 36-year-old Wilcox Street resident Willis Davis Jr.

According to police, Davis was taken to Will County Jail, where he's facing two counts of burglary and four counts of retail theft.

According to Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English, the following events led to this week's apprehension of Davis:

On May 10, at 1:10 p.m., officers responded to the Walgreens at 1163 West Jefferson Street for a retail theft. A man had entered the store and selected five bottles of alcohol with the approximate value of $81 and then exited the store without paying for the merchandise.

During the investigation, officers identified the Davis as the suspect. Officers checked the area and were unable to locate Davis at this time.

In addition to this investigation, Joliet Police detectives identified Davis as the suspect
responsible for three additional thefts of alcohol from the same Walgreens store, listed as
follows:

• On April 18, at 7:19 p.m., Davis was suspected of stealing two bottles of alcohol with an approximate value of $108.
• On April 23, at 4:16 p.m., Davis was suspected of stealing nine bottles of alcohol with an approximate value of $333.
• On May 1, at 9:17 p.m., Davis was suspected of stealing seven bottles of alcohol with an approximate value of $175.
• On May 22, detectives secured an arrest warrant and Davis was placed into custody at 4:46 p.m. after officers on patrol located him in the 2000 block of West Jefferson Street.

In addition to the warrant, Davis was also charged for the theft of alcohol from Walgreens that occurred on May 10, 2024.

Will County court records indicate Davis was allowed to go home on Thursday evening from the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act provisions. The crimes Davis is accused of committing, all five Walgreens retail thefts, are not detainable offenses under the SAFE-T-Act, the judge's court order notes.