Joliet GameStop Robber Needed Christmas Presents: Forfeiture

JOLIET, IL —For the past two months, 25-year-old Joquie McGee has remained in the Will County Jail facing armed robbery charges in connection with the stick up of the GameStop store on Joliet's Route 59. Now, the Will County State's Attorney's staff wants to make McGee's getaway vehicle, a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix, as a forfeited police asset, a civil forfeiture complaint states.

A Will County judge will hear testimony on the case March 10.

Around 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 19, Joliet police cars rushed to the GameStop at 1530 Route 59 after a customer robbed the employees at gunpoint. The robber made off with a Playstation 4 Pro gaming system, four video games and a Batman action figure from the front counter, the complaint states.

The complaint states that the Joliet robber was in the GameStop store for about 20 minutes asking about a Playstation and other equipment packages prior to pulling a gun from his waist and declaring, "Give me everything!"

An employee told police he was familiar with guns and believed the robber had a real Glock handgun.

Other employees and customers were inside the GameStop at the time of the robbery, but none of them realized what was happening, the complaint states.

That evening, Joliet Police Detective David Szymanski obtained video surveillance footage from inside the GameStop to alert other police officers and neighboring agencies about the crime. The gunman had long dreadlocks, a puffy face covering, a green puffy jacket, blue jeans and black shoes.

A Bolingbrook police officer subsequently alerted the GameStop on North Weber Road to be on the lookout for the suspect, if he entered their retail store.

At 8:05 p.m. that same night, a man wearing identical clothes as the Joliet armed robber walked into the Bolingbrook store, the forfeiture states.

Bolingbrook police swarmed the GameStop and arrested McGee, who had a loaded Glock 27 handgun with him, the forfeiture states.

McGee also had a list of Playstation games he obtained during the Joliet Route 59 robbery and his sheet had the Joliet GameStop's address on it, court records show.

Bolingbrook police had McGee's Pontiac Grand Prix towed away from the GameStop on Weber Road. McGee had left his keys in the car and left it running in the parking lot, court documents indicate.

Joliet police drove to Bolingbrook to interview the 25-year-old man from Bellwood.

McGee told them he owned the Glock and "he was passing through Joliet and realized he had the firearm on him and decided to stop in the GameStop located at 1730 Route 59," court records state.

"Due to his family not being in the best financial situation, he decided to take the Playstation and Batman action figure from the store so his son would have (a) nice Christmas. McGee further stated that after leaving the GameStop in Joliet, he drove to an unknown Toys for Tots donation box and dropped off the proceeds from the robbery before heading to the Bolingbrook GameStop," the forfeiture reads.

Two months later, McGee remains in the Will County Jail unable to post his $500,000 bail, logs show.

Now, the Will County State's Attorney Office wants McGee's Pontiac Grand Prix sold at a public auction, destroyed or given to an Illinois police department because the car "was used to facilitate the commission of an armed robbery," the complaint reflects.