A Woodstock man with multiple previous domestic violence convictions pleaded guilty to his most recent Tuesday and was sentenced to three years and six months in prison.

Steven Torres, 48, pleaded guilty to domestic battery with four previous convictions, records filed in McHenry County court show.

Authorities said Torres struck a woman in the head with an object and then told her she was “fine” and to just go to sleep, Assistant State’s Attorney Garrett Miller said during Torres’s initial court appearance.

He was initially charged with misdemeanor domestic battery but upon closer look at his criminal history, the charges were upgraded to the Class 2 felony to which he pleaded guilty.

Authorities said police responded to a call for help at about 3 a.m. Aug. 24 to a home where they found a woman bleeding from a head wound. She told authorities that Torres hit her with a hatchet, then told her she was “fine” and to go to sleep, Miller said.

Torres then allegedly took away the woman’s cellphone so she couldn’t call for help; she fled to a neighbor’s home, but Torres followed her and told the neighbor “she’s fine,” the prosecutor said.

Torres then fled, and the neighbor let the woman in and called police, Miller said.

Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger said police did not find a hatchet and that Torres denied hitting the woman. He also told police that the woman was drunk, fell and hit her head.

Torres was found to be a danger and has been detained in the county jail since his arrest. While in custody, he was charged with communicating with a witness, a Class 3 felony. Authorities said that charge stemmed from a letter he wrote to the woman in October “with the intent to deter [her] from testifying, fully and truthfully” in the case against him, according to the criminal complaint.

He’d been ordered to have no contact with her, but authorities said there were at least three multi-page letters written to the woman, including the one he is charged with sending in October and two in December.

In the letters, obtained by Shaw Local, Torres told the woman to “tell the truth,” that he loved her and to ask Jesus for forgiveness and save her. He also told her he didn’t hit her but that she was drunk, he sprayed water on her and she ran into the bathroom and fell; and told her not to come to court if there’s a trial because then his case would be thrown out.

His past domestic violence convictions include misdemeanors in Kane County in 2003 and in McHenry County in 2019 and 2020, as well as a 2023 felony conviction in McHenry County, Judge Cynthia Lamb said during his initial court appearance.

Additionally, according to Kane County court records and officials, Torres also has convictions in Kane County for felony aggravated domestic battery and felony domestic battery, both from 2011, as well as battery in 2003.

Torres had been set for jury trial where the state sought to introduce evidence of his past convictions, records show.