A City of Waukegan employee is facing charges after prosecutors say he beat one of his children with a belt, leaving visible injuries across her body, after he became mad at her for using a computer.
Ariel Cruz, 40, of Waukegan, was charged with two counts of domestic battery, a Class A misdemeanor.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Savannah Halcomb said the Department of Children and Family Services notified the Waukegan Police Department on May 13 regarding a child abuse report.
A 13-year-old girl told a friend at school on May 8 that she had bruising on her arms and legs from Cruz, who is her father.
The school nurse examined the child and saw large bruises on her left and right thighs, which the victim said were from a belt, Halcomb said.
The child was interviewed at the Lake County Children’s Advocacy Center.
She reported that she was at her house cleaning her room with her older sister and asked her sister if she could use the computer to listen to music.
Cruz was not allowing the girl to use the computer at the time, Halcomb said. The girl checked her email account and saw an email from a boy who she knows from school.
She said she wanted to reply to a boy she knows from school because he has mental health issues and she wanted to make sure he was okay, Halcomb said.
Cruz got angry when he found out she was on the computer emailing a boy she was not supposed to be talking to.
Halcomb said Cruz told the victim to go to the basement and he went to his room where he retrieved a black leather belt.
He went to the basement and hit a couch with the belt before striking the child multiple times with the belt, Halcomb said.
The child said she was moving around and tried blocking the hits with her hand while Cruz was hitting her.
She suffered injuries to her upper thigh and hands, Halcomb said. Cruz made the girl sleep on the couch in the basement after the beating.
She was made to sleep on the couch in the basement for the next four nights and was then made to sleep in the living room because Cruz no longer trusted her alone in her room, Halcomb said.
The girl outcried to friends at school and one of them reported it to staff, who contacted Cruz.
He was upset and told the girl that if she went to school the next day that she could be “taken away” or to a mental health hospital, causing her to not attend school the following day, Halcomb said.
An arrest warrant was obtained for Cruz and he was taken into custody last month.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Cruz pending trial.
An attorney for Cruz said his client has worked for the last two years as an employee with the City of Waukegan in the Public Works Department.
The attorney did not dispute the allegations against Cruz but sought his release from custody while arguing there were conditions to ensure the child’s safety.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim denied the petition to detain Cruz and released him with pre-trial conditions.
Cruz was placed on Level 3 pre-trial services monitoring, ordered to have no contact with the victim, not possess any firearms and not perform any corporal punishment with any children.
Cruz is scheduled to appear in court again on August 20 for a pre-trial hearing.