Trial Recap: Angel Contreras 'Just Wanted A Hug'

JOLIET, IL - The first person called to the witness stand in Will County Courtroom 403 during the domestic violence trial of Angel Contreras, a prominent Joliet civic leader, was the defendant's former girlfriend of nine years. During Wednesday's bench trial in front of Judge Roger Rickmon, the young woman told the courtroom about June 23, 2017. That's a date still on her mind.

"I had broken it off," she testified.

However, the events that landed Contreras, now 32, in trouble with the Joliet Police Department occurred early Aug. 3, 2017.

Around 2 a.m., Contreras, who was drunk and had slurred speech, drove over to his ex-girlfriend's house, she testified. He kept ringing her doorbell. This woke her up. She went and answered the door and found Contreras. Several hours earlier, he had sent her a text message, claiming he wanted to stop by her house to see her dog, Trixie.

She had ignored his text message and did not respond, she testified.

Anyway, now that the intoxicated Joliet Township District 204 School Board member was at her doorstep, "He said he had come from a local bar and restaurant. He said he just wanted a hug. It's been so long since I had a hug. He was attempting to say his life had been falling apart since I had broken the relationship apart," the ex-girlfriend, who works an emergency room nurse, testified.

The ex-girlfriend let Contreras into her house. The two "ended up upstairs in the main bedroom. He attempted to have a sexual relationship," she testified.

One of the prosecutors asked her to describe the events in the bedroom.

"It was not able to be completed," the woman testified. "Then he fell asleep."

With Contreras sound asleep on her bed, the woman decided to take a shower in her bathroom. As she looked out her window, she saw Contreras had parked his car halfway on the street and halfway in her yard. Realizing this was improper, she got dressed and went to move his car into her driveway.

She had grabbed his keys from the table to do this. When she opened the car's door, "I saw a phone connected. (A) second phone," she testified.

Contreras already had his main cell phone with him inside. The witness told the courtroom that Contreras had previously told her the password to his phone. After finding the second phone, the one she did not know he had, she correctly guessed he had the same password.

What she saw next horrified her.

"I saw sexually explicit messages," she testified. "I went upstairs to confront him about it."

According to her testimony, Contreras had been carrying on a sexual relationship behind her back with another woman while "he had lived in my house."

She woke him up as she clutched his secret phone in her hand.

"He jumped up and was trying to get the phone from me. He was grabbing me about my arms ... He had me pinned against (a) bed rail."

According to testimony, the ex-girlfriend managed to escape Contreras. She ran into her guest bedroom. She slammed the door shut. She locked it.

Contreras ran downstairs where "he found tools and popped the lock on my guest bedroom. He had put on some of my clothes in the laundry."

Once Contreras got the door open, "I pushed him out of my guest bedroom ... and called 911."

Contreras bolted out the door and ran away before the police cars arrived.

"Because he was driving on a suspended license," she testified.

It took the police about 10 minutes to get there, she told the courtroom.

"His car remained," she testified. "I told them I just wanted him to leave."

At that point, the woman did not give a detailed statement to the police accusing Contreras of striking her and hitting her.

"I was in shock from what had just occurred. I pretty much just wanted him out."

Prosecutor Amie Simpson asked why she confronted Contreras about the second secret phone, given that the phone was his, not hers.

"I thought we had reconciled," she testified.

Several hours later, still on August 3, the woman met up with a friend to discuss the tense situation from the night before. She also noticed several bruises "starting to form." She decided to go to the Joliet Police Department to report Contreras for domestic violence. She gave her interview statement to Officer Adam Stapleton. He has been with J0liet for more than 18 years after previously working for Grundy County.

"She was upset. I would describe her as visibly upset," Stapleton testified.

Stapleton also testified the woman told him there had been no previous incidents of domestic violence during her nine-year relationship with Contreras.

Photos of the several bruises across her body were photographed at the Joliet Police Station and entered into evidence by the prosecution on Wednesday.

"Do all these pictures truly depict how your body looked?" Simpson asked.

"Yes," her voice cracked.

The prosecution's main witness went on to testify, "I was terrified" wondering what Contreras had been doing "behind my back. I saw explicit messages with one woman in particular, but I noted several female names on there."

Because she works as a nurse in the medical field, she wanted to know, "What had I been exposed to regarding sexually transmitted diseases?" she told the courtroom.

The bench trial continued Wednesday afternoon in Courtroom 403. In April 2017, Contreras was elected by the voters to the Joliet Township District 204 School Board. He also joined the Joliet Housing Authority and has worked at Joliet's Spanish Community Center.

Contreras also has worked as a long-time assistant men's soccer at Joliet Junior College where he had played when he was in college.

Handling the prosecution are Assistant Will County State's Attorneys Amie Simpson and Caroline Blair. Contreras is represented by Patricia Kalkanis, one of the attorneys at Tomczak Law Group.

RELATED: Verdict Not Guilty in Contreras Trial

Image via Joliet Patch files