Mount Morris man charged with entering DeKalb home, beating woman

A Mount Morris man with prior assault convictions said in a recent pretrial release hearing that he has no intentions of harming anybody after he was charged with home invasion and beating a woman in DeKalb, according to court records.

John Vos, 46, has been charged with one count of home invasion, a Class X felony that’s punishable with up to 30 years in jail; he was also charged with one count of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony, court records show.

On July 26, DeKalb police responded to a call about a home invasion and found a woman with injuries to her face, chest and neck area, according to a police synopsis filed in court. In that synopsis, police allege Vos strangled a woman for a few seconds and pushed her against a wall before she pushed him off.

During a pretrial release hearing Aug. 8, Vos said he had “no intention of harming anybody. I’m just trying to keep my place and my job. This is all hearsay.”

Judge Philip Montgomery, who ordered Vos released and placed on electronic home monitoring, told him during the hearing it was not all hearsay.

Records filed in court allege that Vos was asked to leave a DeKalb apartment after a fight, but returned to the residence. He pounded on a window, asking the victim where his phone was, and then broke off a window screen to enter the apartment through an open window, according to the synopsis.

The DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office argued that, regardless of Vos’s intentions, he did still hurt someone.

The police synopsis also noted that Vos has 10 convictions for assault, one conviction for unlawful restraint.

During his pretrial release hearing, Vos asserted that the person he is accused of battering and whose home he’s accused of breaking into actually battered him. That happened after he entered the victim’s home, according to the police synopsis.

DeKalb County Assistant State’s Attorney Scott Schwertley asked that Vos be detained pretrial, but Montgomery allowed Vos’s release.

Vos, who spoke against the advice of the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office, had asked Montgomery to be let out of jail while awaiting trial. Released on electronic home monitoring, Vos is next due in court at 9 a.m. on Aug. 26.