Boss Cut Employee During Argument Over Unpaid Wages: Indictment

DEERFIELD, IL — A Skokie roofer accused of cutting one of his employees in the neck with a box cutter during an argument about unpaid wages has been indicted on a charge of felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to police and prosecutors.

Altanbagana "Altan" Enkhsaikhan, 29, of Skokie, was arrested on the morning of Aug. 24 after police were called to a report of a fight at a construction site in the 300 block of Pine Street, according to police reports. A Lake County grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday.

A witness told police the fight began when one of Enkhsaikhan's employees, a 35-year-old Chicago man, called him down from the roof of the Pine Street house and asked to speak to him, according to police reports. The boss immediately got into the workers face as they began to argue about money. The employee said Enkhsaikhan was supposed to pay his workers daily for the hours worked but consistently held their money for the week. Enkhsaikhan, he said, would tell workers he was unable to pay them and offer partial payments.

"Go ahead and do something," Enkhsaikhan taunted the man, according to the witness. The two began fighting and Enkhsaikhan pulled out a box cutter with a hooked blade and cut his employee in the left side of the neck, police were told.

The employee fell backward and began to bleed heavily, the witness said. Enkhsaikhan stood over the bleeding man and began punching him before the witness tried to intervene and was punched himself, according to police reports. (The 19-year-old witness would later drop a battery charge against Enkhsaikhan, assuring police he had not been threatened or intimidated.)

The bloody employee managed to get to his feet, picked up a piece of pipe and began smashing windows on Enkhsaikhan's truck and a parked van before getting in his car and driving away, police were told.

Deerfield police dispatched to the scene shortly before 8 a.m. were advised that a man and a woman involved in the fight were headed south on Pine Street in a silver Jeep, according to police reports. An officer noticed the car and pulled it over.

Police said the woman was driving the car and a shirtless, agitated man bleeding from the head was trying to hide in the back seat of the Jeep. Officers handcuffed the man and began to question him.

The 35-year-old employee told police he had "got his ass kicked" by a "Chinese guy," according to police reports. (Enkhsaikhan is a Mongolian citizen.) He told police he and Enkhsaikhan had gotten into a fight about money while on a roofing job and admitted damaging his boss' car windows after the fight. Arriving paramedics informed him he would likely need stitches for the head wound, but he refused an ambulance ride.

Police said they investigated the scene, where they found a bloody shirt and a box cutter. Enkhsaikhan confirmed the two had gotten into a fight about money. Police said was uncooperative with the fire department and initially placed under arrest for battery. Officers found a driver's license and a Visa card in Enkhsaikhan's wallet, which told police said belonged to his co-workers.

Enkhsaikhan's employee was also arrested and charged with criminal damage to property. Later that morning, Lake County prosecutors asked to drop charges against the employee "due to being a victim," according to police reports. Instead, he was charged only with driving with a suspended license.

According to police reports and court records, Enkhsaikhan paid a $3,000 cash portion of his bond and was given a no contact order with the employees he is accused of attacking. He has retained a private attorney, who has not responded to a request for comment. He will be arraigned on Nov. 7, according to court records.