Man charged with beer bottle assault

A Brooklyn, N.Y., man was ordered held on $250,000 bond Saturday after he was charged with bashing two brothers with a beer bottle at a Christmas Day party in Round Lake Beach.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Scott Turk said one of the injured men, a 24-year-old from Round Lake Beach, lost the tip of his left ear in the fracas.

Turk said the suspect, Venarco Crespo, 26, was in Lake County visiting friends and relatives for the holidays and attended a Christmas party in the 1600 block of Williams Drive around 1:40 p.m. on Friday.

Turk said Crespo got into an argument with the girlfriend of the 34-year-old older brother, who stepped in to break it up.

Crespo, police said, hit the man in the face with a beer bottle, Turk said, breaking the bottle and leaving a swollen red mark across his face.

The 24-year-old younger brother confronted Crespo, Turk said, and Crespo swung the bottle at him and cut off the upper part of his left ear.

The 24-year-old needed several stitches to close the wound, Turk said; the older brother did not require hospitalization.

Turk told Associate Judge Donna-Jo Vorderstrasse that Crespo is a construction worker in New York who has prior convictions for assault, robbery, larceny and possession of drugs.

Vorderstrasse told Crespo that if he posts the $25,000 cash needed for his bond he is not to leave the state of Illinois while the case is pending.

Turk said Crespo, who is to appear in court again Jan. 11, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of aggravated battery against both men.