Staff Report

Stephen Jon Bennett

WARSAW — A Warsaw man was recently arrested after threatening and battering a woman while trying to prevent her from going to work.

Stephen Jon Bennett, 31, 410 Pope St., Warsaw, is charged with domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, sexual battery, strangulation, and intimidation, all level 6 felonies; interference with the reporting of a crime, a class A misdemeanor; and domestic battery with a prior conviction, a level 5 felony.

On Dec. 17, a Warsaw Police officer responded to a battery report. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with a woman who said Bennett had battered her.

According to court documents, the woman said she was getting ready for work when Bennett, who had been drinking all night, said he wanted to have sex with her. When the woman told him no, Bennett allegedly grabbed the woman and threw her onto a bed, pinned her arms down and started sucking on her neck.

Bennett eventually let her get up. She said Bennett did not want her to go to work.

Bennett then took her phone away so that she couldn’t call for help. Bennett then grabbed the woman and forced her to the floor. He put his index fingers in the woman’s mouth and made threats against her.

Bennett stretched the woman’s cheeks out with his fingers, causing pain. He also grabbed a pillow and pushed it over the woman’s mouth and nose. The woman was able to get away and fled on foot. Bennett began to follow the woman and tried to get her to return to the house. He followed the woman all the way to her place of work and was told to leave the premises.

Officers noticed several marks on the woman, including hand marks on her throat and neck area.

Police also spoke with an individual who was going to take the woman to work. The person said when he pulled into the driveway, he saw Bennett come to the door and raise a finger in a gesture that he thought meant he should wait. When the woman did not respond to his text messages, the man left in order to get to work on time.

Later, he witnessed Bennett yelling at the woman and other employees. When the man told Bennett to leave the property, he tried to get some of the employees to fight him. Bennett left when he heard law enforcement was contacted.

Upon finding Bennett, officers could smell an alcoholic beverage emanating from him. When asked what happened, Bennett said he was making out with the woman and then walked her to work. He also said he did not see the man waiting in his driveway and denied hurting the woman. Bennett denied being intoxicated but gave a portable breath sample of 0.13 BrAC. He told officers he was holding onto the woman’s phone while she walked to work.

Bennett was previously convicted of domestic battery in Goshen in 2018.

Bennett was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail on Dec. 17, with a $10,250 surety and cash bond.