Crystal Lake man gets 30 months prison for random brick attack

A Crystal Lake man was sentenced today to 30 months in a state prison after admitting he randomly attacked a man with a brick outside a McHenry County Metra station in what the victim and a witness said they believed was a gang initiation.

Kenneth S. Nepras, 19, of the 7300 block of McHenry Avenue, pleaded guilty to the aggravated battery charge filed in the Oct. 17 incident that left the victim needing 28 stitches in his head and face.

In exchange for the guilty plea, McHenry County prosecutors dismissed a more serious charge of attempted armed robbery.

The victim, Roger Runkel, said outside court he was waiting for a train at Metra's Woodstock station about 6 p.m. when Nepras blindsided him with the brick and left him dazed and bleeding.

"The doctor said it was within inches of hitting my temple, and I'd be dead," he said.

Runkel and a witness to the attack said they believed Nepras' punishment was not severe enough given his injuries and evidence the random assault was premeditated.

But Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Patrick Kenneally said Nepras' sentence was appropriate for a first-time felon.

"Usually a defendant with a first felony will get a term of probation, but based on the violent nature of this attack, that was unworkable," he said.

Nepras had initially pleaded guilty in February under a deal in which, based on discussions in chambers, he believed he would be sentenced to probation.

Those expectations changed, however, when a pre-sentence investigation into Nepras revealed he had a more serious criminal record than first believed, making probation a much less likely outcome.

His record, according to court documents, includes three prior misdemeanor battery convictions between February and August 2009 and has two other misdemeanor battery charges pending against him at the time of the investigation.