Man pleads guilty to attempted Harvard home invasion, sentenced to 4-year prison term

A former Woodstock man has pleaded guilty to an attempted Harvard home invasion and was sentenced to four years in prison.

Nicholas A. Lopez, 29, who lists himself as homeless in jail records, is required to serve half his prison time followed by one year mandatory supervised release, a judgment order in the McHenry County court said.

He will receive credit for 516 days served in the county jail. Lopez was considered an absconder from the Illinois Department of Corrections at the time of his arrest for not reporting to probation in a separate case, according to the IDOC. He was initially charged with a more serious Class X offense of home invasion. He pleaded to a lesser Class 1 felony. Had he been convicted on the Class X felony, he could have been sentenced up to 30 years in prison.

Lopez initially was accused of entering a home March 10, 2024, and striking a man “in the body with a closed fist, bit [him] in the back and scratched [him] in the back and rear upper left arm,” according to the criminal complaint. The charge he pleaded to asserts he “attempted” to enter the home and “attempted” to cause the man inside bodily harm, an information document said.

About two weeks prior to the alleged Harvard incident, he was released from prison on parole for two 2021 McHenry County cases in which he was convicted on drug and domestic battery charges, state and court records show.

His attorney declined to comment.