Prosecutors seek prison for fight that destroyed man’s eye

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WOODSTOCK – Prosecutors plan to seek two or three years in prison for a 32-year-old Huntley man who admitted Monday to participating in a fight that destroyed a man’s right eye.

Jaroslaw F. Czapla, of 10984 Cape Cod Lane, pleaded guilty to felony mob action Monday in exchange for prosecutors dropping a related count of battery and an unrelated domestic violence case. McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather could sentence Czapla to probation or to between one and three years in prison at a hearing Jan. 8, 2010.

Prosecutors said Czapla tripped and pushed Robert Steele, then 32, as Steele was planning to leave a 2-year-old’s family birthday party in light of an argument in July 2008. Multiple men kicked Steele in the face. He suffered a broken nose and orbital bone and now has a prosthetic eye.

After the beating, Czapla told Steele not to call police as Czapla held a chair and a pipe, prosecutors said.

Steele and his wife, April, previously said the argument broke out when Czapla and two other men, all Cubs fans, taunted Steele with claims that White Sox fans had missing teeth. Steele was a White Sox fan.

“This was more than a Cubs-Sox argument,” State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi said. “There were inflammatory statements made.”

Prosecutor said they planned to call witnesses related to the dropped charges at the sentencing hearing to support their request for a prison sentence.

The domestic-violence case alleged that Czapla grabbed a female family member’s right arm hard enough to cause bruising and grabbed and pushed a male family member in March. He also was accused of grabbing the phone away from the woman when she tried to call police, causing her to cut her hand.

Jeff Altman, a defense attorney for Czapla, declined comment outside the courtroom.

Charges remain pending against two others in connection with the July 2008 fight. Boguslaw Czapla, 38, of Elmwood Park is next due in court Nov. 13 in connection with charges of aggravated battery and mob action.

A warrant on charges of mob action and battery remains active against Maciej “Mike” Trojnar, of Elmwood Park.

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