Highwood Man Threatens To Kill Woman With Hammer While Choking Her, Police Say

WAUKEGAN, IL — A Highwood man accused of choking and threatening to kill a woman last month after a judge had ordered him to stay away from her pleaded not guilty to felony charges Thursday in Lake County court.

Ubaldo Betancourt-Gonzalez, 42, was indicted Wednesday on six counts stemming from his Jan. 15 arrest, including felony charges of aggravated domestic battery with strangulation and violation of an order of protection.

Highwood police reported Betancourt-Gonzalez was arrested around Washington and North Central avenues after running from the scene of an argument with a woman who had called police. The department had no Spanish-speaking officers available at the time, so one of his children helped translate for police.

According to police reports, the woman and Betancourt-Gonzalez had been fighting in the basement after he took her cell phone and hid it in a cabinet there.

One of his children walked downstairs after hearing a banging noise and witnessed Betancourt-Gonzalez choking the woman with one hand and brandishing a hammer in the other hand. He stopped and left after being confronted by his child, police were told. The woman said Betancourt-Gonzalez threatened to kill her as he raised the hammer against her.

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Betancourt-Gonzalez said he knew he was forbidden from being at the house but said the woman had agreed to allow him to return, according to a translation of his statement.

He denied choking the woman, although authorities documented bruises to her throat. He also said the woman stabbed him in the chest with a pair of scissors during the argument. Police reported there was a small red mark on his stomach.

According to police and court records, Betancourt-Gonzalez's latest arrest came less than seven weeks after he pleaded guilty to another charge involving the same woman. In that case, he was arrested in June 2021 and initially charged with multiple counts of domestic battery. Prosecutors dropped those charges in exchange for Betancourt-Gonzalez's plea of guilty to one count of misdemeanor battery.

On Nov. 30, a judge sentenced him to one year of probation and ordered him not to drink alcohol, drive a car or violate the order of protection against the woman he was convicted of striking, according to court records.

Betancourt-Gonzalez has been awaiting trial at Lake County Jail since his arrest because he has not yet posted the $30,000 cash portion of his bond, according to the sheriff's office. He is due back in court Tuesday.