Crystal Lake man accused of beating, strangling woman given 4-year prison term in plea deal

A Crystal Lake man pleaded guilty Wednesday to strangling a woman and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Nathaniel Chapwesk, 30, pleaded guilty to aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony. In exchange, additional counts were dismissed, including another count of aggravated domestic battery and unlawful restraint, as well as misdemeanor charges of domestic battery, unlawful interference with the reporting of domestic violence and violation of domestic violence bail bonds, according to the indictment filed in McHenry County court.

Two additional pending cases alleging domestic battery and domestic violence involving the same woman also were dismissed, records show.

Chapwesk is required to serve 85% of his prison term. Afterward, he will serve four years of mandatory supervised release. He will receive credit for 406 days in the county jail plus an additional 203 days – a half-day for each day spent working or attending classes, according to court documents and Assistant Public Defender Kyle Kunz.

Judge Mark Gerhardt found that the offense was the result of the use or abuse of drugs or alcohol or both. The finding provides a recommendation to the Illinois Department of Corrections that Chapwesk receive treatment while he’s incarcerated.

Charges were first filed June 17, 2023, against Chapwesk after a woman he knows went to his home to collect her belongings, and Chapwesk allegedly told her that she was not leaving, authorities said. As she tried to leave, he allegedly “grabbed her by the arm, threw her to the ground, and she hit a laundry basket.” When she started crying, Chapwesk allegedly “told her to shut up,” and if “she didn’t shut up, he was going to beat her up,” according to court testimony presented by Assistant State’s Attorney Maria Marek at a pretrial detention hearing.

As the woman tried to leave again, he again allegedly grabbed and threw her to the floor, slapped her and tried to strangle her multiple times, authorities said. The woman said he was yelling and calling her names and told her that “if she did not shut up, he was going to ‘beat the [expletive] out of her,’” according to testimony. During one of the times he allegedly strangled her, she said her “vision was getting dark and she started seeing stars, so she faked passing out so he would stop,” according to trial testimony.

Authorities said Chapwesk got off the woman and said, “Are you dead, bro?” When he moved away, she grabbed her phone, called her mom and fled his apartment. He chased her to her car and tried to stop her from closing her door while continuing to yell at her, according to testimony.

Another incident occurred July 5, 2023, when authorities said he punched, slapped and choked her. She tried to call police then quickly hung up, and Chapwesk allegedly threw her phone across the room, according to testimony. A dispatcher tried to call back, but there was no answer. Chapwesk is alleged to have told the woman to get in the closet because police were coming and to call her mother and say she was OK. Then, he allegedly blocked the closet doorway.

When police arrived, there was no answer at the door, and they made their way inside through a sliding door. Chapwesk was sitting on the floor, and officers found the woman “crouching down” in a closet. As police “escorted [Chapwesk] away from the apartment,” he allegedly “repeatedly told her not to say anything,” according to testimony.

During these two alleged attacks, Chapwesk had pending domestic violence charges involving the same woman and a no-contact order in place, testimony shows.

At the hearing where Kunz argued that Chapwesk be released pretrial with conditions, Kunz said Chapwesk denied choking the woman. Kunz said at the time that there were no corroborating witnesses or pictures of her alleged injuries. He argued that should Chapwesk be released, there were conditions to keep the alleged victim safe, such as GPS monitoring.

Regardless, the now-retired Judge James Cowlin agreed with Marek that Chapwesk posed “a real and present threat” to the woman, and he was detained. And although he was ordered to have no contact with the woman, between November 2023 and June 25, prosecutors said Chapwesk made 346 phone calls to her from jail, according to a petition to revoke his jail call privileges.

On Wednesday, Gerhardt lifted those phone restrictions.