He Went For A Walk At Hammel Woods, Now His Truck Faces Forfeiture

SHOREWOOD — The Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow has filed another civil forfeiture in recent days, this time seeking to turn the black Ford 150 pickup truck of Plainfield area resident Roberto Flores into a forfeited asset for the police. Flores resides in Joliet city limits, in the 2800 block of Ruth Fitzgerald Drive, and Joliet police are familiar with him.

According to the forfeiture complaint, on Feb. 27, Flores parked his black Ford 150 in the Hammel Woods Route 59 Access and Officer Caitlin Mosier of the Will County Forest Preserve District Police saw the 2014 truck. She ran the registration and learned that Roberto Flores was the owner. She also learned that Flores had a revoked driver's license and "Officer Mosier recognized a booking photo as a subject that was walking the trail by himself in a jacket with white sleeves," court files reflect.

Minutes later, the Forest Preserve police officer saw Flores begin to drive his pickup at Hammel Woods and that's when she turned on her emergency lights and made him pull him over. Dispatch confirmed that Flores had a revoked driver's license, and Mosier gave Flores a citation for driving while license suspended. The Will County Forest Preserve police had Flores' pickup truck towed away from Hammel Woods.

As of late February, the complaint noted, Flores had his driver's license suspended by the state of Illinois for a DUI conviction. Upon reviewing this week's court files, Joliet Patch found that Flores has had a lot of scrapes with the law, notably Joliet police and Will County Sheriff's Office, in recent years.

In November 2023, Flores was charged by the Will County Sheriff's Office with aggravated domestic battery and two counts of domestic battery. Flores was accused of trying to strangle a woman and grabbing her by the neck and sticking a vape pen into her neck.

In that case, Flores entered a guilty plea as part of a plea bargain and two of the original charges were dismissed. The court file noted that Flores already had a 2020 domestic battery conviction here in Will County. In November 2024, Flores was convicted of the felony crime of aggravated DUI, in connection with a December 2022 criminal case involving the Joliet police, court files note.

Joliet Patch reported on that crime when it happened, informing readers that Joliet police arrested Roberto Flores on charges of aggravated driving under the influence/revoked license, aggravated DUI-no insurance and DUI. In that incident, Joliet police went to the 2200 block of Douglas Street for a crash. Flores was driving a Buick sedan when he collided with a parked, unoccupied Dodge sport utility vehicle, police reports show. Afterward, Flores was taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and later released and brought to the Will County Jail.

As for Flores' latest brush with the law, at the Hammel Woods Forest Preserve, a forfeiture hearing on the defendant's black Ford 150 pickup truck is set for May 14 at Will County's Courthouse.