JOLIET — After winning his pretrial release from the Will County Jail in mid-March because of serious health concerns, felony defendant Bob Hernandez no longer needs a wheelchair to get to his criminal court hearings. This weekend, you might see the familiar Joliet resident going on four-mile walks along the city’s busiest streets like Ruby, Jefferson and downtown’s Chicago Street.
On Friday morning, Will County Judge John Connor, over the objections raised by a prosecutor at the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, ruled in favor of Hernandez and his criminal defense lawyer. Attorney Jeff Tomczak had asked Judge Connor to modify the conditions for Bob Hernandez’s pretrial release.
Prosecutor Kaitlyn Leone reminded the judge that Hernandez was previously released from the jail because he was wheel-chair bound, after apparently suffering strokes or stroke-like symptoms while housed in the Will County Jail.
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And now he’s ready to go on 2.5 mile walks? she questioned.
In making his decision, Judge Connor said he had not been presented with any evidence from the prosecution or Will County Pretrial Services indicating Hernandez was in violation of the conditions of his pretrial release from recent months.
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The judge also pointed out that as a condition of his ongoing pretrial release, Hernandez remains under electronic monitoring by the court system.
One of the stipulations entered into Friday’s ruling prohibits Hernandez from being within 1,000 feet of the sprawling Joliet Central High School campus along East Jefferson Street. However, the judge’s ruling does not prohibit Hernandez from walking along the east side’s nearby streets, which Joliet Central teenagers could be using to get to and from high school for classes and after school activities.
“My question to the State is, does this allow him to get close to the Geotracker and other locations that were part of the stay away order?” Connor inquired.
The prosecutor, Leone, later responded, “I don’t believe there is any direct overlap.”
During Friday morning’s hearing in Courtroom 403, Will County’s prosecutor told Judge Connor she was against Tomczak’s motion because of the distance “and vastness of it. That is something that gives pause to the state,” Leone remarked.
Tomczak’s motion had asked the judge to modify his client’s pretrial movement restrictions, this way, Hernandez can start getting some exercise by going on long walks.
Tomczak’s motion indicated that Hernandez wanted to walk to the Walmart store at 2424 West Jefferson Street where Hernandez had worked at the time of his two separate arrests by Joliet police back in January and February.
Nowadays, Hernandez wants to walk from his parents’ house where he lives off Black Road to the Walmart, so Hernandez can retrieve his medical prescriptions there, according to Tomczak.
According to Google Maps, it will be a 2.2-mile walk — a 4.4-mile round trip walk — for Hernandez to walk from his house to the Walmart on Jefferson and back. Each walk will take about 50 minutes in time.
Tomczak argued in court Friday that his client’s source for transportation these past six months has been his father, George Hernandez, the retired Joliet Police Department lieutenant who has an honorary city of Joliet street named in his honor at Collins Street.
However, George Hernandez’s health has “rapidly deteriorated” and George Hernandez is now in danger of having one of his legs amputated, Tomczak told the judge on Friday.
Prior to Friday’s ruling, Bob Hernandez was essentially under house arrest because both of his cars have been seized by Joliet police as evidence and are now subject to the Illinois civil forfeiture laws. Joliet police said crack cocaine was discovered inside both of Bob Hernandez’s automobiles at the time of his two separate arrests earlier this year.
Hernandez is also facing stalking charges because he violated his order of protection to keep him away from a teenage boy and that teenage boy’s mother, according to court files. The teenage boy and his mother attended Friday’s court proceedings.
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