Two 19-year-old men already facing burglary charges from a break-in at a Loop Sweetgreen were arrested again on a recent Monday morning after police spotted them allegedly casing a Cafecito location with suitcases in tow — just after they had allegedly broken into a nearby Jimmy John's. Now a Cook County judge has ordered both men detained, ruling that their new arrests violated the terms of the pretrial release that had let them walk free after their first case.
According to CWBChicago, Chicago police officers spotted Josiah Crout and Shawn Bowman Williams looking through the windows of Cafecito, at 7 North Wells Street, while carrying suitcases at about 2:48 a.m. on August 10. A burglar alarm at the Jimmy John's located at 201 West Madison Street had gone off moments before officers arrived, and surveillance video reportedly showed the pair burglarizing that restaurant. Someone had removed the front entrance door glass at Jimmy John's, and according to a CPD report cited by the outlet, Williams then hit Cafecito's glass door before officers who recognized Crout from the earlier case moved in and made the arrests.
Inside Crout's suitcase, officers found an ice-cold bottle of Coca-Cola, an open bag of Jimmy John's potato chips, and a tablet, the report states. Williams's suitcase held Coca-Cola, Sprite and Dasani bottles, multiple packages of sliced ham and cheese, and a large quantity of Jimmy John's potato chips — food that, per the same account, carried no retail pricing or customer information.
A Pattern That Started at Sweetgreen
The Jimmy John's and Cafecito incident was not the pair's first alleged run-in with Loop restaurants. Crout was charged with burglarizing a Sweetgreen at 1 North Dearborn Street on June 30, when investigators found the restaurant's revolving-door panels pushed in, pry marks on the cash register, and a bent kitchen knife left on a table. Crout was found holding a tablet, charging cables and other items inside the restaurant, and surveillance video reportedly showed him entering with two other people that day.
Williams was identified and charged in the Sweetgreen case weeks later, with prosecutors also linking him to an overnight cash theft at Go Grocer, located at 345 West Wacker Drive, that occurred on June 10. The outlet's report notes that Crout also allegedly returned to Sweetgreen alone afterward and tried to pull a wall-mounted tablet from the wall.
A Warrant, a Missed Court Date, and Another Arrest
Crout failed to appear for his first court date on July 7, and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest that remained active for more than a month before he was picked up alongside Williams at Jimmy John's and Cafecito. Williams, meanwhile, had already been arrested a second time before that — police took him into custody at the courthouse on August 3, after he allegedly spent the week following that date burglarizing Jimmy John's and attempting to break into Cafecito, per the same account.
Williams had a separate case pending as well: he was charged with burglarizing Citizen Skate, at 920 West Wilson Avenue, after police found him on April 21 hiding under a parked car with multiple skateboards, clothing and skateboard hardware. Surveillance video allegedly showed Williams committing that burglary, and receipts from Citizen Skate were allegedly found in his pocket. He had been on pretrial release since April, and Judge Tyria Walton released him again after that arrest — a decision that preceded his later rearrests at the courthouse and outside Jimmy John's.
Judge Orders Detention After Repeat Arrests
This time, Judge Rivanda Doss Beal ordered both Crout and Williams detained, finding that their new arrests violated the conditions of their pretrial release. Both men were charged with burglary and attempted burglary in connection with the Jimmy John's and Cafecito incident.
Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminated cash bail statewide when it took effect in September 2023, generally does not allow judges to detain someone accused of non-residential burglary at their first court appearance unless prosecutors can show specific criteria are met, according to the Civic Federation. But the law also gives prosecutors a separate tool: when someone already on release is charged with a new offense or breaks release conditions, they can petition a judge to revoke that release, and judges can order detention if they find clear evidence of the violation, per guidance from Illinois Legal Aid Online. That is the mechanism that put both Crout and Williams behind bars this time, even though their original burglary charges likely would not have triggered automatic detention on their own.
Non-residential burglary of a commercial building in Illinois is a Class 2 felony under state law, carrying a potential sentence of three to seven years in prison. Possessing tools intended for illegal entry, such as pry bars, is a separate Class 4 felony punishable by one to three years, according to legal guidance published by the Law Offices of Peter W. Lewis.
Part of a Larger Surge in Commercial Break-ins
The case lands amid a documented spike in commercial burglaries across Chicago. A July report from the Council on Criminal Justice found that non-residential burglaries in the city jumped 132% in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period a year earlier, and remain 434% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels — even as most other crime categories in the city declined. A University of Chicago safety and security report released in January similarly found that retail and commercial property theft lagged behind broader citywide reductions in violent crime.
Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, who took office in December 2024 pledging tougher enforcement on retail and commercial property crimes, has overseen a 70% increase in pretrial detention petitions for property offenders during her first six months compared to the prior year, according to an analysis by the Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts. Hoodline reported in June on a wave of similar early-morning break-ins targeting Loop and North Side businesses, with owners describing smashed entrance glass and stolen electronics discovered during off-hours.
CWBChicago, which was founded in 2013 and is now managed by Tim Hecke, who became the outlet's managing partner in 2019, first reported the details of the Jimmy John's and Cafecito arrests. Both Crout and Williams remain detained as their cases move through Cook County court.
