JOLIET, IL – Joliet Police Lt. Joe Egizio said Friday afternoon that his criminal police did not know the whereabouts of Defendant Jeremy Hylka, but Egizio is confident that the now former Catholic school teacher of the Joliet Diocese will be in custody for the near future.

“He is not in custody,” announced Egizio.

On Thursday, Joliet police received an arrest warrant for Hylka for traveling to meet a child and for caregiving, both crimes. Hylka has not yet been arrested. During Friday’s press conference, a reporter asked Egizio if Hylka was currently being admitted to a New Lenox hospital.

Egizio replied by saying, “I don’t know.”

Joliet Police Chief Joe Egizio speaks to reporters at Friday’s news conference about her criminal investigation into Jeremy Hylka, who is charged with traveling to a child and caring for John Ferak / Patch

Joliet police said the video, which had been circulating on social media in the past few days, showed Hylka trying to meet someone who Hylka believed was 15 years old to engage in sexual activity . The person who met with Hylka was actually 19 years old.

“Our cooperating witness pretended to be 15 years old but is actually 19 years old,” Joliet’s longtime police officer Shawn Filipiak told reporters at the press conference.

Because Hylka believed the teenager he was dating was 15 years old, “the legal requirement for prosecution is met,” Filipiak said.

Filipiak and Egizio told reporters that the person responsible for recording Hylka’s Snapchat video does not work for the Joliet Police Department in any capacity.

“Absolutely not,” remarked Egizio. “I’ve never met this person in my entire life.”

The group responsible for filming Hylka walked into Joliet McDonald’s on West Jefferson Street and filmed him running out of business trying to hide his face with his shirt and acting independently of law enforcement, said Egizio.

Joliet police said the group was known as Save Our Sughters.

“It’s an independent group. They don’t have a law enforcement agency,” said Egizio.

However, the group gave Joliet police access to their videos, and Joliet police later independently verified the Hylka videos involved, Egizio explained.

At Friday’s press conference, a reporter asked Joliet police officers whether the person making the video is harassing Hylka and whether it would be problematic for law enforcement to repeatedly refer to Hylka as a child pedophile in the video.

Shawn Filipiak, police officer at Joliet, talks about the investigation against Jeremy Hylka. John Ferak / Patch

Filipiak responded that this was not a problem for the Will County prosecutor as the prosecutor agreed to file two criminal charges against Hylka.

“Obviously she didn’t mind,” Filipiak said.

Filipiak also answered a Chicago television reporter’s question about a statement from Hylka’s former employer, Joliet Catholic Academy. The statement noted that in June 2020, JCA informed the Joliet police “of online allegations” relating to Hylka and that Hylka resigned from JCA.

That school year, Hylka taught at St. Joseph Catholic School in Lockport. The Diocese of Joliet announced that he was resigned from all positions associated with the Diocese as a result of the incident this week that led to the criminal charges.

Filipiak said last summer’s allegations were “from a third party” and included “unsubstantiated allegations with unknown witnesses at the time”.

When the press conference ended on Friday, Lt. Egizio back on the podium. He wanted everyone to know that he was impressed with how quickly the criminal investigation against Hylka came about that week.

During the press conference, Egizio Joliet’s deputy chief for criminal investigations, Carlos Matlock, stood next to him.

“Whatever the case where a child is a victim or a child is an intended victim, the division of my investigation drops what they are doing, banding together and doing the job,” Egizio said.

In addition to Filipiak, Egizio also wanted to thank colleagues in the Joliet Police Department, Don McKinney, Dave Jackson, Michael Cagle, Paul Rodriguez and Brad McKeon.

“Putting this together in such a short time is very impressive from a law enforcement perspective,” Egizio told reporters. “It is the teamwork these detectives put in that resulted in the two crimes being reported to us within two days of the incident being reported. Therefore, I would like to publicly commend the men and women of the investigative department of the Joliet Police Department .

“And yes, we encourage all victims of this type of behavior from anyone in our community to call the Joliet Police Department. Our general investigation line is 815-724-3020.”

Joliet Police held a press conference Friday to discuss the status of their criminal investigation against Jeremy Hylka, who is charged with traveling to meet and care for a child. John Ferak / Patch