The Joliet police chief criticized the SAFE-T Act after the latest arrest of a man who was released from jail three times under the cash bail and two times under the no-cash bail system.

Jesus Zambrano, 35, was arrested Thursday following the execution of a search warrant that led to the discovery of multiple firearms, ammunition and drugs inside a North Raynor Avenue residence, according to a news release from the Joliet Police Department.

Zambrano has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and violation of pretrial release.

At the time of Zambrano’s latest arrest, he had been out on cash bond and on pretrial release under the SAFE-T Act across six felony cases, all of which remain pending at the Will County Courthouse.

Four of those six cases were filed between 2021 and 2022, which was before the elimination of cash bail in 2023. Some of those four cases concern charges of aggravated battery with a firearm and harassment of a witness.

Zambrano secured his release from jail three times in those cases because Will County Judge Carmen Goodman would grant a request from Zambrano’s attorney, Chuck Bretz, to lower the cash bond amounts, court records show.

In 2023, Zambrano was ordered to remain in jail under the SAFE-T Act by Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins after he faced new charges of armed violence, unlawful possession of a controlled substance and other offenses.

But Goodman reversed DeWilkins’ decision several months later and allowed Zambrano’s pretrial release, court records show.

In 2024, Zambrano was charged with unlawful possession of firearms. He was ordered to remain in jail by Will County Judge Domenica Osterberger.

In January 2025, Will County Judge Art Smigielski granted Zambrano’s pretrial release because he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Bretz argued in a motion that the jail could not meet Zambrano’s medical needs regarding his illness.

After Zambrano’s latest arrest Thursday, Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans issued a statement that said he found Zambrano’s arrest “deeply troubling.”

Evans said it was not just because of what was discovered by officers during the search at the residence on North Raynor Avenue but what Zambrano’s arrest “represented.”

“Zambrano is a dangerous person who has repeatedly demonstrated that he has no regard for the law or for human life,” Evans said. “The Illinois SAFE-T Act is broken, and it is not making our community safer. It is creating a revolving door that puts the same violent offenders back into the community, while our officers and residents pay the price.”

Evans said “despite a broken system that repeatedly undermines public safety,” his officers show up every day, answering the calls and putting themselves in harm’s way.

Last year, Joliet had only two homicides, the lowest count in at least six years.

Evans spoke about the reduction in crime in the city before the Joliet City Council last year.

He said there was a 37% reduction in the number of shootings, an almost 50% reduction in aggravated batteries, an almost 45% reduction in aggravated discharge of a firearms and an almost 15% reduction in robberies.