Judge Ewanic Orders Crest Hill Domestic Violence Defendant Jailed Under SAFE-T-Act

CREST HILL, IL — After spending most of the 2024 summer in the Will County Jail for aggravated domestic battery, 34-year-old Crest Hill citizen Hector Sandoval-Bravo is back in custody following this week's arrest by the Crest Hill Police force on new allegations of domestic violence.

After reviewing the evidence, Will County Judge Derek Ewanic — for at least the second time in less than one week — ordered a criminal defendant facing domestic battery charges kept in the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act. Joliet Patch also produced an exclusive story on the other case, involving Joliet criminal defendant Travares Williams of Nicholson Street.

As for the Crest Hill case, police officers arrested Sandoval around 2:30 a.m. on Monday, and he's now been detained on two counts of domestic battery and one count of battery.

According to the prosecution's successful petition to deny pretrial release for Sandoval, just before 10 p.m. Sunday, a woman showed up at the Crest Hill Police Station off Weber Road and reported a domestic battery. The woman said she was inside her apartment bedroom with her boyfriend, when her ex-boyfriend Sandoval-Bravo wanted to enter her bedroom to see her two children who were sleeping, court files show.

Prosecutors say the woman told Crest Hill police that she still shares her apartment with Sandoval-Bravo and that he was intoxicated as he began to force his way through the bedroom door.

The woman used her body trying to prevent the door from opening, but Sandoval eventually forced the door open and in doing so, prosecutors say she was hit in her upper right arm.

The woman told the police she was not injured, and she showed no visible injuries or bruises. In any event, the woman, as well as her new boyfriend and her two children, ages 10 and 7, escaped through the apartment window because Sandoval was in the living room, and they did not feel safe going near him, the prosecutors outlined in the petition.

Sandoval tried to get the woman's new boyfriend to go outside and fight with him, and pushed a television toward the new boyfriend, causing it to fall and hit him, court records allege. The woman's new boyfriend indicated he suffered wrist pain from the TV falling, but there were no visible marks or bruises.

As for Sandoval, prosecutors say Crest Hill police later found him sleeping inside his black 2015 Ford Escape while the engine was running. Officials allege he also had an open bottle of beer in the cupholder. Crest Hill police arrested him and he "stated he arrived home and found a man he does not know in his apartment with his girlfriend and kids and he wanted him to leave," documents reflect.

Sandoval has one aggravated domestic battery from 2024 in Will County, prosecutors reminded Judge Ewanic. The victim in that case is the same female victim, court files show. Last August, a judge in Will County sentenced Sandoval to 60 days in the Will County Jail and two years of probation after he pleaded guilty to his aggravated domestic battery charge.