'He Has Poured Beer On My Head While Holding The Baby And I Slipped And Fell': Wilmington Victim

WILMINGTON, IL — A 33-year-old Wilmington man who comes from the 300 block of West Kahler Road, Andrew Sombraske, has regained his freedom after spending three days in the Will County Jail following his Wilmington police arrest in connection with allegations of trying to strangle a 39-year-old woman inside his home.

Will County's weekend rotating judge, Associate Gabriel Orenic, ruled against the Will County State's Attorney's Office petition trying to keep Sombraske locked up in jail under the SAFE-T-Act.

Prosecutors charged Sombraske with aggravated domestic battery, three crimes of domestic battery and one crime of child endangerment, following his Wilmington police arrest on Oct. 16.

The criminal complaint indicates that Sombraske grabbed the 39-year-old woman around her neck and tried to strangle her. One of his charges accuses Sombraske of harming the woman in the presence of a child.

According to court files, Wilmington police responded to Sombraske's house last Thursday and officers heard a man and a woman arguing upon their arrival. The woman told officers that Sombraske had been drinking all night and an argument ensued, leading to violence, according to police.

The woman told officers that Sombraske went into the bedroom of the woman's daughter to tell her to go to bed, and Sombraske called the daughter a vulgar name. From there, Sombraske charged at the girl's mother, and she slapped him, while defending herself. In the living room, Sombraske grabbed the woman around her wrist and pinned her to the wall. The couple's one-year-old child was sitting on the living room floor during the attack, court documents note.

Sombraske then grabbed a knife and held it in the woman's direction as she picked up her one-year-old child to keep Sombraske from coming toward her. The woman suffered a superficial cut on her wrist and a bruise on her inner thigh, Wilmington police noted.

As for Sombraske, he later put his victim into a chokehold for about 10 to 15 seconds, the woman told police. Officers saw bruising on the side of her neck. While Sombraske was serving in the United States military, he was charged with domestic assault and violation of a protection order, prosecutors informed Judge Orenic.

"There is no disposition according to LEADS. The matter occurred in 2016," prosecutors explained.

Earlier this year, last week's domestic violence victim obtained an order of protection against Sombraske, Will County Courthouse filings show.

The woman told Will County's judges back in January that "he threatens to kick me and kids out, belittled me, telling me I'm worthless being stay at home mom. Thinks I cheat on him so calls me slut whore, etc. Let's me use his vehicle when he needs me to get something for him or go do laundry."

That order of protection noted a time in 2024 when "he has poured beer on my head while holding the baby and I slipped and fell. Shoved me in a wall while holding the baby, shoved me into the kitchen counter, hit me, choked me, my kids have heard a lot of everything that has happened. He talks crap about my kids."

Back in 2023, the woman remembered, "he is just mean, talks mean to me, shoves, chokes me, have had so many bruises, he has bit me too. Now through all of this, I have hit back in self-defense, sometimes and when he talks mean I say mean things back. He also has wished me to die."

In ruling in favor of the Wilmington strangling defendant, Judge Orenic ruled that "conditions exist to protect" the Wilmington victim. The judge ordered that Sombraske "shall not consume alcohol" and must have no contact with the 39-year-old Wilmington woman or his house in the 300 block of West Kahler Road.

If Sombraske owns or possesses any guns, he must surrender them to the Wilmington police within 48 hours of his release from the Will County Jail, Judge Orenic ruled.