By Brandi Makuski

A 19-year-old Stevens Point man faces prison time after being charged with felonious witness intimidation and battery.

Andrew Jelinski is scheduled to have his initial appearance on Jan. 23 before Judge Thomas Flugaur. He is currently free on a $1,000 cash bond.

Jelinski was arrested after a caller reported an assault on the 1100 block of Division St. on Dec. 22, 2016. According to the complaint, a woman was visiting Jelinski in the home when the two got into a verbal argument over use of her vehicle. Jelinski reportedly wanted to use the woman’s car to drive himself to work, but the woman refused.

When she tried to leave, Jelinski threw the woman down on the bed and, “held her down by pushing on her chest,” according to the complaint. He also pushed down on her esophagus with his hand, and the woman later told police she was coughing up blood after the incident.

After the woman managed to escape from his grasp, Jelinski allegedly threw her cat to the ground, also pushing her to the ground. The woman then managed to get outside of the home and tried calling 911, when Jelinski grabbed her phone and threw it into the snow. At the point, according to the complaint, the woman tried to run for her vehicle, but Jelinski allegedly “shoved her into a fence”.

When the woman finally got away, she ran across the street. Another man in the home, Jelinski’s roommate, then emerged and gave Jelinski a ride to work.

When police interviewed the roommate, he said he was in his bedroom during the argument, but said he did hear glass breaking and also heard the woman gasping for air.

The roommate said he “did not directly intervene because he feared the defendant would hurt him,” the complaint read in part.

After dropping Jelinski off at work, the roommate said he called police.

Jelinski is charged with strangulation and suffocation, misdemeanor battery, disorderly conduct and felonious intimidation of a victim.  If convicted on the top counts, he faces over 25 years in prison.

The case against Jelinski was the first felony charge of 2017 in the Portage Co. District Attorney’s Office, which was filed Jan. 3.