Police are looking for a former Joliet Walmart employee charged with stealing about $136,000 from a West Jefferson Street store.
On November 29, Judge Ken Zelazo signed an arrest warrant for Melissa VanderWaal, 47, of Mazon.
As of Thursday morning, Vanderwall has yet to be arrested on those charges.
Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English said detectives are continuing to investigate the case and are looking for VanderWaal, who has not been reported missing to their department.
According to English, VanderWaal is accused of stealing about $136,000 from Walmart.
English declined to provide details about the incident.
Vanderwall no longer works for Walmart, according to a company spokesperson.
The indictment against Vanderwall alleges that she stole between $100,000 and less than $500,000 in cash from Walmart at 2424 W. Jefferson St., Joliet. She was charged with burglary for staying in the store with the intention of stealing her.
On Tuesday, Will County Assistant State Attorney Dant Falk filed a complaint seeking the confiscation of Vanderwall’s Jeep Cherokee that Vanderwall allegedly used in the robbery.
A judge is scheduled to rule on the complaint on February 8.
Joliet police officers investigating the case were notified that a Walmart employee had found the Jeep at the VanderWaal residence, Falk’s forfeiture complaint said.
VanderWaal’s daughter called the store looking for her mother but was unable to reach her, so she contacted a Walmart employee, Falk’s complaint said.
VanderWaal’s daughter went to her mother’s house and found a note left on the door. The house has been foreclosed on,” said Falk’s complaint.
According to Volk’s complaint, the investigation that led to the indictment against VanderWaal began on Nov. 29 when officers responded to Walmart about the theft.
Officers spoke with a Loss Prevention employee who said Walmart employee Vanderwell “stole money from two different ‘cash recyclers’ during the night.”
Walmart’s market assets manager said cash recyclers are similar to ATMs that stores use to restock cash registers.
Surveillance footage obtained during the investigation shows that VanderWaal emptied both cash recyclers between 3:33 and 3:38 p.m. was put in.
Vanderwall then left the store with cash in what appeared to be a blue Jeep Cherokee that officers saw, according to Falk’s complaint.
A Walmart asset protection coach conducted an audit of the cash recyclers and found that the left and right cash recyclers had lost a total of $52,502, as well as $83,486, Fork said. The complaint states:
Officers were informed that Vanderwall had emptied cassettes containing $20 and $100 bills from the machine and emptied cassettes containing overflowing cash, Foulk’s complaint said.
“In total, [Vanderwall] was taking the sum of [four] The cash equivalent of the cassette totaled $135,988.00,” Foulk’s complaint states.
