Three McHenry businesses closed their doors after receiving cease and desist orders for violation of the governor's stay at home executive order.
Three McHenry businesses closed their doors after receiving cease and desist orders for violation of the governor's stay at home executive order.
Three McHenry businesses claimed to be open for essential reasons, but undercover officers secured purchases in violation of the governor's shelter-in-place order and ordered the stores to close.
GameStop, JoAnn Fabric and Michaels were issued cease-and-desist orders from the chief of police and complied after providing what the department considered non-essential services, the Northwest Herald recently reported.
GameStop, which claimed to be selling essential keyboards and computer accessories, sold a copy of Call of Duty World II. Other items bought from the stores included Crayola crayons, a necklace kit, two kids coloring books, chalk and other items not considered necessary to surviving the coronavirus pandemic.
Failure to follow the executive order could have cost each business its license. Each of the stores had stayed open when the executive order was given, following instruction through their corporate offices, McHenry Deputy Police Chief Thomas Walsh told the Herald in an email.
Michaels claimed to be open to serve crafters working from home. JoAnn Fabric claimed to be essential by serving health care workers material to make their own preventative care equipment.
Alerts Sign-up