WCSO Press Releases

Last night, October 27th, at 6pm, the Will County Sheriff's Office was advised by the FBI that they had received a tip regarding a threat of a school shooting at Lincolnway East High School, 201 Colorado in Frankfort Township.   According to FBI personnel, the tip was discovered on a social media site/app.  Sheriff's deputies, along with school administrators, conducted a search of the high school.  Nothing of an evidentiary nature was found.

Through their invesitgation the FBI was able to locate the possible offender, a 15 year old male, sophomore student at LW East.  Will County Sheriff's detectives and FBI personnel visited the residence last night and spoke with the juvenile and his parents, who fully cooperated and agreed to a search of their residence.  No firearms or explosives were located.

The Will County Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with the FBI, are continuing their investigation regarding this matter.  At this time it appears that this incident may be a hoax, in that it looks as if the possible offender was not the originator, nor the sender, of the threatening message.  Investigators remain diligent in locating the IP address of the sender.

The Sheriff's Office has assigned extra deputies to the school today at the request of school administrators.  The school has notified parents of the incident via email.  -end-

This Sunday, October 25, 2015 from Noon to 5pm, Firehouse Subs in Joliet, is hosting an event to raise money to assist the Will County Sheriff's Office in providing Automated External Defibrillators (AED's) for their squad cars.  This program was initiated by Firehouse Subs to provide area public safety agencies with extra funding in order to purchase needed equipment and training. 

It's easy to help!  Just plan to spend your lunch or dinner at Firehouse Subs, grab a donation flyer when you arrive,  and 15% of all proceeds will go to this worthwhile cause! 

Firehouse Subs is located at 1522 IL Route 59 in Joliet.  Thanks for your support!   -end-

It has come to the attention of the Will County Sheriff's Office that some residents have received phone calls who they believe are from the Will County Sheriff's Office, which appears as such on their caller ID.  The caller identifies himself as a detective and states that a warrant has been issued for their arrest from the Internal Revenue Service.  The caller then gives the resident a different phone number to call who will inform them of how much money they need to send to a specified address in order to clear up the arrest warrant.

This type of scam is commonly known as Caller ID Spoofing.  A caller ID display will show a phone number (in this case, a number from the Sheriff's Office) which is different from that of the phone from which the call was actually placed.

The Sheriff's Office is warning the public that this is a scam and that the Sheriff's Office does not call residents regarding warrants or being potentially arrested.  The Sheriff's Office also does not call residents asking for money or payments of any kind.  The motivation behind this scam is considered malicious and illegal and we are alerting the public to be cautious.

If you have fallen victim to this type of scam, or any type of scam, please contact the Sheriff's Office at 815-727-8575.    -end-

In order to assist the public with easy access in communicating with the Will County Sheriff's Office we have added a new Online Form Section to our website.  The public now has several helpful tools available to them to assist with their needs as well as assisting our department.

In addition to our Crime Tips, House Watch Request, Contact us, and Online Reporting forms, we have added a request form that relates to the IL statutue for Freedom of Information (FOIA) and a Compliment/Complaint Form.  This form was developed with hopes of assisting the Sheriff's Office with their commitment to transparency and professionalism.

We invite the public to visit our website at www.willcosheriff.org

-end-

The Will County Sheriff's Office announced today that Investigator Jeffrey Tolbert and Sgt. James Holuj will represent the Sheriff's Office at the funeral services of New York's fallen officer Wenjian Liu.  Liu was slain on December 20th while sitting in his squad car with fellow officer Rafael Ramos.   Tolbert and Holuj are both 14 year veterans of the Sheriff's Office and members of the Sheriff's Honor Guard.  The deputies will be attending courtesy of JetBlue Airways who extended free airline tickets to law enforcement officers throughout the country to attend the services. They will depart Chicago, O'Hare Airport, on Saturday, January 3, 2014 for the services and will return on Monday.

Tolbert and Holuj stated, "It is a priviledge to be given this opportunity to show our respect and support the families of our fallen brothers."

Travel expenses incurred to the two deputies will be paid for by Sheriff Mike Kelley, the deputies FOP union, and the supervisors MAP union.    -end-

Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley announced today that he has completed the promotions of command staff that will assist him during his term as Sheriff.  The following promotions took place since Sheriff Kelley was sworn in on December 1, 2014.

Undersheriff, Robert Contro

Deputy Chief of Enforcement Division, Thomas Budde

Deputy Chief of Support Services, Jerry Nudera

Deputy Chief of Special Operations and Investigations, Richard Ackerson

Adult Detention Facility Command Staff

Chief Deputy Warden - Bradley Josephson 

Deputy Chief of ADF Operations, Stuart Taylor

Deputy Chief of ADF Support Services, Dale Santerelli

Sheriff Kelley stated, "I want to thank all of the outgoing administrators for their many years of dedication and service to our department.  As I look to the future I am committed to new challenges and for the opportunity to increase efficiency within the Sheriff's Office.  Together with my new command staff, I am confident that our years of experience, knowledge, professionalism, and dedication, will be met with the main focus on quality of life, safety, and security for all residents of Will County."

"While running for this office my campaign platform focused on three main objectives; the need to move the Sheriffs' Foreclosure Sales in-house, which could potentially provide the Sheriff's Office with substantial revenue; the need to construct a secure evidence storage facility; and looking into alternative working shifts for deputies.  These projects are large undertakings and will take time but I hope to have them completed during my term as Sheriff."

"On behalf of our new command staff, deputies, correctional staff, lay staff, and I, we will strive to be the finest law enforcement organization, bringing back the professionalism and confidence to the Sheriff's Office that all Will County citizens deserve."

**For more information please visit our website:  www.willcosheriff.org

***Photos and Bio's of Sheriff Kelley and his Command Staff can be found by clicking "Admin" on the left side of our home page.   -end-