A 55-year-old man was arrested after prosecutors say he sexually assaulted a woman in his home in Round Lake Park and restrained her and battered her.
Richard A. Axtell, 55, of Round Lake Park, was charged with criminal sexual assault by force, domestic battery with four or more prior convictions and unlawful restraint.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen McConnell said the Round Lake Park Police Department responded on January 19 to a call of a suicide attempt.
The victim’s friend had called police after the woman was cutting her arm due to being sexually assaulted.
The victim said Axtell had hit her in the face and that her right wrist was injured.
She told officers that Axtell digitally penetrated her against her consent, McConnell said.
Paramedics transported the woman to the hospital and officers spoke to her again at the hospital.
Officers learned Axtell and the victim are roommates and she rents a room from the man.
She had been living at the house for a couple of months and the two are not dating, McConnell said. She also reported the two have not had sex before and she did not want to do anything sexual with him, McConnell said.
The victim went to Axtell’s room to watch a movie on the night of the incident and Axtell nearly immediately digitally penetrated her, McConnell said.
The victim tried to push Axtell away from her but he continued sexually assaulting her, McConnell said.
McConnell said the woman pleaded with Axtell to stop and told him she had a boyfriend, to which he responded that he would “go get liquor.”
The woman went to her bedroom and Axtell followed her and struck her in the face, McConnell said.
She struck the man in self-defense and Axtell then grabbed her wrist and twisted it, McConnell said, adding that he also stepped on her ankle.
McConnell said Axtell refused to let the woman leave the room and she was able to call her friend, who called the police.
Axtell allegedly took the woman’s phone and put it in his pocket when she was calling her friend.
Axtell’s mother also lives in the home and heard the commotion. She went upstairs and Axtell told her that he had hit the woman in the face, McConnell said.
The mother told Axtell to let the victim go and he complied with her.
When officers arrived, the victim was looking for her phone and they asked Axtell to call it. He then admitted he had her phone and a knife was also located in the bathroom toilet.
Axtell told officers that he digitally penetrated the woman after “things got frisky” while the two were watching television, McConnell said.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Axtell, who has seven prior domestic battery convictions, pending trial and argued he is a danger to the safety of others.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim granted the petition following a detention hearing.
Axtell is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday for an arraignment hearing.