Man who beat up woman gets sentenced
courtesy photo
Leroy Charles
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POLSON – A man with a history of violating protective orders was given an 8-year sentence last week with four years suspended for criminal endangerment.
Leroy Michael Charles, 40, of Ronan, was also originally charged with aggravated assault, theft and aggravated kidnapping for beating up a woman at a cabin near Lake Mary Ronan on April 10 and 11. Two other cases were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
According to a court document, Charles grabbed the woman and pushed her before she went to the bedroom to sleep. He then woke her up, berated her, knocked her to the floor in a narrow space between the bed and wall and punched her in the head and body multiple times causing her to see flashes of light, according to a court document. Charles then strangled the woman, and she believed she was going to die, the court document states. She scratched him with her fingernails, and Charles eventually allowed her to get up.
According to the document, Charles dragged the woman around the house by her hair, treated her like a dog, demanded she lay naked in a corner multiple times and forced her to crawl under the counter to the kitchen sink several times.
At one point, the document states, Charles kicked the woman out of the cabin onto the porch while naked, ordered her to lay on a snow-covered picnic table while yelling profanities at her and later grabbed her by the hair and forced her head under running water from the bathtub faucet.
The woman said she was terrified for her life and had a difficult time breathing, but was unable to run away due to being naked and because of cold and snowy weather and secluded location. In addition, the court record states that Charles wouldn’t let the woman leave, blocked the door, and threatened further violence if she tried to leave.
The next day, Charles drove the woman back to Polson where she reported the incident to police almost immediately and sought medical assistance. Photos revealed dozens of bruises on her body from head to feet and signs of strangulation, the court record states.
