Soldier Who Smashed Security Guard's Eye Socket Sentenced

SKOKIE, IL — The U.S. Army veteran who punched a security guard as she cleaned up his vomit outside a River North condo pleaded guilty last week in Skokie in exchange for a three-year prison sentence. The attack, which left the guard with a fractured eye socket and nose, was recorded by a surveillance camera in a widely shared video.

Matthew De Leon, 25, of Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood, was convicted of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm for the May 14, 2017, attack outside the condo building in the 600 block of North Franklin Street. He was initially charged with three counts of aggravated battery, a class 3 felony punishable by probation or between two and five years in prison.

De Leon was on active duty at the time of the incident but later left the army with an other than honorable discharge. He turned himself in to Chicago police within days of the attack after seeing the video. At his initial court appearance, his lawyer told the court he was "going to make this right for the victim and her family."

Security camera video shows Zoa Stigler, the guard De Leon punched, approach him to offer help after he slumped down outside the building around 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning. De Leon was seen throwing up on the sidewalk before he was joined by three people identified by prosecutors as his wife, sister-in-law and her boyfriend.

It appears words were exchanged as the group begins to walk away from the building. De Leon then turns toward Stigler and throws a bottle of water at her. As she walks toward him and brushes her hair from her face, he punches her in the eye, causing her to stumble several steps backward into the bucket she was using to clean up his vomit.

De Leon and his family members then walked away without offering Stigler any help. Their faces were blurred in the surveillance video released by Chicago police and they were not charged with any criminal offenses.

An online fundraiser launched by the president of the condo association where Stigler worked received donations from more than 1,200 people.

Shortly after the attack, Stigler told the Sun-Times from the hospital that she had been working at the building for about five years without having any violent encounters. She said she had been trying to help the heavily intoxicated De Leon at the time.

"My job is, and what I feel as a human being is: if you see someone who needs help, you help them," she said at the time. "He was passed out. I was not going to leave him in trouble like that."

Defense attorney Richard Fenbert said De Leon graduated from Guerin College Preparatory High School in River Grove before joining the military and serving two tours of duty, including nine months in Afghanistan, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.D

Fenbert said he received commendation for his service and had no criminal history, but he had suffered from mental health and alcohol-related issues, according to the Sun-Times. His lawyer said De Leon was so intoxicated at the time he has no memory of the incident.

De Leon served as a fire support specialist in the Army from October 2012 until May 2018 and achieved the rank of specialist. He was deployed to Afghanistan from January to August 2014, according to an Army spokesperson, who declined to characterize the nature of his discharge.

De Leon must serve at least half of his prison sentence and will be eligible for parole in January 2021, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Before accepting De Leon's guilty plea, Cook County Circuit Judge William O'Brien said a three-year prison sentence was an appropriate punishment, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"He caved in a woman’s face and changed her life forever," the judge said.

Earlier: Man Accused Of Punching River North Security Guard 'Horrified' By His Actions