Warsaw Teenager Receives Local Sentence For Intimidation, Strangulation
By Liz Adkins
InkFreeNews
John Gomez Jr.
WARSAW — A Warsaw teenager will serve a local sentence for threatening people and causing significant damage to a residence.
John Gomez Jr., 19, 4133 N. Old Port Road, Warsaw, was charged with intimidation, a level 6 felony as a lesser included offense of a Level 5 felony; strangulation, a level 6 felony; and domestic battery and criminal mischief, both class A misdemeanors.
Gomez was sentenced in Kosciusko Superior Court One on Thursday, Aug. 14.
For intimidation and strangulation, Kosciusko Superior Court One Judge Karin McGrath sentenced Gomez to 1 1/2 years in the Kosciusko County Jail, with one year executed and six months suspended on probation for each charge. Gomez also received a one-year executed sentence for domestic battery and six months on probation for criminal mischief.
Gomez’s sentences for strangulation and domestic battery will be served at the same time, and back-to-back to the intimidation and criminal mischief sentences.
In total, Gomez received a 3 1/2-year sentence, with two years executed and 1 1/2 years suspended on probation.
A no-contact order between Gomez and the victim remains in effect. He is also trespassed from the property where the incident occurred.
At sentencing, Deputy Prosecutor Christanne Hampton noted Gomez’s significant criminal history.
“You deserve better than this, but you have to choose what to do with the hand that’s dealt to you,” said McGrath. “Work the programs, get the help you need.”
Affidavit Summary
On July 28, 2024, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a battery incident at an Etna Green residence.
According to court documents, Gomez placed a man in a chokehold and punched him in the mouth. He then began damaging the man’s home by kicking the residence’s walls and front door. As Gomez was leaving, he grabbed a garden gnome and smashed it against the man’s vehicle.
Gomez also told the man and a woman he was going to “roll them back.”