CHICAGO — We intended to publish this story, revealing the person arrested the most times in Chicago since Illinois eliminated cash bail, on the one-month anniversary of the change last Monday. Unfortunately, the two front-runners kept getting arrested, so we had to delay publication until things settled down.
So, as of this writing, 55-year-old Juvenal Coronel holds the title of Chicagoan with the most arrests in the cashless bail era: five.
His run began on September 22, when Chicago police arrested him in the 6800 block of North Clark after two women in their 20s said he slapped them on the buttocks nearby.
Charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery, he walked out of the police station less than five hours later with instructions to appear in court on October 11.
He hadn’t even appeared in court for that case when, on September 27, police arrested him again in the 1700 block of West Lunt. A woman told police she was stopped at a red light with her children in the car when Coronel jumped on her hood, punched her car and window, and stood in front of her so she couldn’t drive away.
Charged with misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct, he walked out of the police station less than five hours later with instructions to appear in court on October 11.
He didn’t show up, but prosecutors dropped the assault and disorderly conduct case anyway.
Coronel wouldn’t be in the wind for long. Cops arrested him again two days later.
This time, a man told police Coronel dented his Jeep and scratched “what looked like letters” into the door in the 1700 block of West Lunt.
In court the following day, prosecutors asked Judge Barbara Dawkins to hold Coronel in jail for committing a new offense while he had cases pending, according to clerk of court records. Dawkins let him go with instructions to show up in court two days later.
He didn’t show up. He did, however, get arrested again.
Officers arrested him in the 6900 block of North Clark around 12:45 p.m. on charges of reckless conduct and obstructing traffic, CPD arrest records show. He left the station shortly after 5 a.m. on October 17.
At 8 o’clock that night, he got arrested again in the 6700 block of North Clark. In an arrest report, police said a driver complained that Coronel was walking in traffic, trying to hit passing cars with a broom.
This time, Judge William Fahy ordered him into custody for picking up new charges while he had cases pending. Coronel will be in jail until he appears before Judge Donald Panarese on Friday.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
