Crystal Lake man, 19, accused of shooting into home sentenced to 14 years in prison

A Crystal Lake man pleaded guilty to felony charges in connection with shooting a .38-caliber handgun into a home knowing a teenager was inside, and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Joel Kattner, 19, pleaded guilty earlier this month to possession of a stolen firearm and use of a stolen firearm in the commission of an offense, according to court records and a news release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Kattner was sentenced to seven years for each offense, a sentence that will run consecutively for a total of 14 years, court records show.

In exchange for the guilty plea, additional counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, possession of a defaced firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm were dismissed, records show.

He is required to serve at least 50% of the sentence. When he is released from prison, he will serve 24 months of mandatory supervised release.

He will receive six days of credit for time spent in the county jail and 468 days for a period of home confinement while he was wearing an ankle monitor, according to the sentencing order signed by Judge Tiffany Davis.

“On July 10, 2022, Crystal Lake Police Department officers responded to the 900 block of Coventry Lane for a report of a bullet fired through a resident’s bedroom window,” the state’s attorney’s office said in the release. “The officers spoke with the victim, who identified Kattner as the shooter. Following an extensive investigation, authorities executed a search warrant at Kattner’s residence and located the gun that had been used.”

Kattner and the teenager knew each other and were both defendants in a previous criminal case, prosecutors said.

While out on bond, prosecutors said Kattner violated conditions of his pretrial release by violating a no-contact order with the teenager, according to a motion filed in the courthouse.

“On Nov. 4, probation reported that [Kattner] violated the exclusionary zone on three different occasions on Nov. 2,” Assistant State’s Attorney Ashur Youash wrote in the motion.

Prosecutors moved to modify conditions of his pretrial release, which was granted. Kattner’s GPS monitoring device was removed and replaced with an electronic monitoring device, and he was placed on home confinement. He only was permitted to leave his house for school and work, according to the order.

GPS tracks when a person goes near a location they are excluded from. Electronic monitoring is more strict and used in situations of home confinement.