Accused Evanston Gym Owner Pleads Guilty To Reduced Charge

EVANSTON, IL — The owner of a local kickboxing studio charged with breaking into a woman's apartment and sexually assaulting her nearly two years ago in downtown Evanston pleaded guilty last month to a reduced charge.

Ken Battinus, of Evanston, was sentenced on Sept. 15 to three years imprisonment after pleading guilty to one count of criminal trespassing to a residence with a person present, a class-4 felony. With credit for time served and good behavior, he is set to be released next month. He declined to comment for this story through his attorney.

Battinus, 43, was arrested on Nov. 11, 2018, after Evanston Fire Department crews were called to put out a small fire in the laundry room of a building in the 1400 block of Chicago Avenue. Fire crews heard a woman shouting for help, yelling "rape" through an open window, according to police reports.

Police said firefighters encountered a resident who said a man had just forced his way into her unit after the building's fire alarms went off. While speaking to the woman, fire crews saw a man matching the description she provided, later identified as Battinus, attempt to leave, according to police and fire reports. He looked at the woman and said, "What the f---?" as he was exiting, later telling them, "a woman is being raped on the fourth floor," a firefighter told police. A pair of firefighters detained him until police arrived.

The woman initially claimed that she was not acquainted with Battinus, who appeared intoxicated at the time of the incident, but had seen him walking around the area before, police reported. But Battinus told officers he had been invited into the woman's apartment and that they had a previous sexual relationship. Surveillance video shows Battinus enter the building after the fire alarm goes off and go up the elevator before the woman comes running down, according to police.

The next month, Battinus was indicted on 16 felony counts, including aggravated criminal sexual assault, home invasion and residential burglary, according to Cook County court records. He pleaded not guilty on Dec. 17, 2018. On three occasions prior to the end of 2018, Cook County Associate Judge Lauren Edidin ordered him held without bail at Cook County Jail, where he would remain for the next 17 months awaiting trial.

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Court records show Battinus' defense attorney, Robert Kerr, retained Tactical Solutions, a Chicago-based private detective firm, to conduct an investigation in 2019. In a series of interviews with the woman who reported the assault, the defense team learned she had been prescribed medication to control hallucinations and other symptoms of schizophrenia, but did not regularly comply with her treatment schedule, Kerr alleged in a court filing.

In December 2019, the woman signed a statement explaining that it later occurred to her that she had met Battinus in 2014, inviting him to her apartment to do cocaine and have sex. She said he left without giving her his phone number, but she nonetheless saw him several times on the street in Evanston in subsequent years, the woman wrote.

"I will not participate in the prosecution of Kenneth Battinus, regarding the alleged rape. I will not go to court at all," she said. "I do not want anyone from the state's attorney's office communicating with me about this case."

The statement did not, however, specifically recant the assault allegation.

According to Battinus' attorney, the grand jury was misled when Evanston Det. Tom Giese testified that the woman did not know Battinus and had never given him permission to enter her apartment. At the same time, Giese testified that the woman voluntarily offered to, and did, have sex with Battinus on the night of his arrest.

"Certainly, the State can proceed against a defendant without the full cooperation of an alleged victim, but, in this case — and under the circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic — Mr. Battinus cannot reasonably expect to proceed to trial anytime soon," Kerr said in an emergency motion asking for bail in April. It noted jail restrictions in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic eliminated the ability for attorneys to securely communicate with their clients, and the Illinois Supreme Court had suspended the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the matter.

"We have no additional information related to this case," said a Cook County State's Attorney's Office spokesperson.

Circuit Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer, the presiding municipal judge in the Skokie courthouse, allowed Battinus to be released on bail with electronic home monitoring on May 1 after his family posted $25,000 in cash, records show.

EARLIER: Sexual Assault, Home Invasion Charges For Kickboxing Studio Owner

After pleading guilty to the amended charge of trespassing, Battinus returned to Cook County Jail, where he will likely serve out the rest his sentence. Although he was ordered confined to state prison more than three weeks ago, he has not been transferred to Illinois Department of Corrections custody due to the backlog of more than 400 inmates that state prison officials have neglected to pick up from the jail following sentencing.

Before his arrest, Battinus had owned and operated 9Round kickboxing studio franchises in Evanston and Arlington Heights and was working on acquiring a third property in Barrington. According to court filings, he was forced to abandon the Barrington development, close the Arlington Heights location and was on the brink of being forced to close the Evanston location. Membership fell from 400 to 120 members.

Dorota Day, manager of Battinus' Central Street studio and a friend of Battinus, believes the allegations were false. She said Battinus had been unfairly targeted by the state's attorney's office.

"People were wondering why the gym hasn't closed down and it's because the members who really know him were like, 'It just makes no sense. He's so helpful and supportive and a workaholic," Day said. "I was his right hand when we were running the businesses together, and he's never come on to me. He's always professionally distant."