Byron man accused of sending 174 emails over 3 days to same woman pleads not guilty to stalking

OREGON — A Byron man pleaded not guilty Wednesday to numerous charges that he sent hundreds of emails to a woman despite being ordered by a judge to have no contact with her following a plea agreement for a 2022 domestic battery charge.

Andrew Gornick, 42, appeared in court Wednesday with a new attorney, Cassandra Hirth of Rockford, for a preliminary hearing on charges of stalking, cyberstalking and harassment through electronic communication – all felony offenses.

Gornick first appeared in court Feb. 14 on 16 new charges, represented by Assistant Ogle Public Defender Eric Morrow.

On Wednesday, Hirth said she was now representing Gornick. She said Gornick was pleading not guilty to all charges and wanted to waive his right to a preliminary hearing.

Hirth asked Judge Anthony Peska for at least 4 weeks to review the charges and file motions. She also said Gornick had not violated conditions of a 2023 probation sentence for battery and asked Peska to release Gornick from custody.

Peska denied that request, saying continued detention was necessary for the safety of the community and to prevent further violations. He remanded Gornick to the Ogle County Jail and set his next court date for 1 p.m. March 13.

During a Feb. 14 hearing held in front of Judge John “Ben” Roe, Assistant State’s Attorney Allison Huntley said her office has a current petition to revoke Gornick’s probation sentence for a domestic battery conviction.

In that domestic battery case, filed in November 2022, Gornick pleaded guilty and was sentenced in May 2023 to 24 months of probation and ordered to pay $1,674 in fines and fees. Part of that sentence ordered him to have no contact with the victim.

Gornick was then charged in April 2024 with cyberstalking and electronic harassment for a series of emails in December 2023 that prosecutors say he knew would cause a “reasonable person to fear for their safety or the safety of a third person.”

The 2024 cyberstalking charge accuses Gornick of typing that he would kill the woman and her friend. Prosecutors say that incident occurred on or about Dec. 13, 2023. He is also accused of typing that he would drown the woman and sending a “suggestion or proposal which is obscene” with an intent to offend.

Eight counts of harassment accuse Gornick of sending the woman more lewd emails with obscene images – all with the intent to offend.

On Feb. 14, Huntley said new, additional charges had been filed against Gornick – stalking, cyberstalking and harassment through electronic communication.

The female in all the new cases is the same female listed in the previous charges. A male, also listed in some of the charges, is described in court records as a friend of the woman.

Huntley told Roe that Gornick’s behavior had “escalated” and estimated he had sent 174 emails from Jan. 18-21 to the woman.

Huntley said Gornick’s emails had gone to the woman’s junk email folder because she had blocked him in an attempt to ignore his communications. Huntley said some of the emails are obscene in nature and clearly made to threaten the woman and her friend.

Court records accuse Gornick of writing “Your life is in jeopardy,” “You will die today” and “Coming to burn your house down.” One of the charges says Gornick threatened more physical harm to the man and woman, accompanying the threat with a photo of two knives.

Other charges quote Gornick as saying “I will serve 25 years to make a point”...”I’m killing him” [...] This morning!!!!!”, “I will go to prison” and “I am killing both of you.”

Huntley told Roe that Gornick was ordered not to have any contact with the woman in the 2022 case and in the case filed in April 2024.

Gornick’s attorney at the Feb. 14 hearing, Assistant Public Defender Eric Morrow, agreed the alleged messages were “alarming in nature” but said Gornick needed mental health treatment rather than being held in the Ogle County Jail as his cases proceed through the court system.

Morrow said Gornick had been admitted to a Rockford psychiatric treatment facility for 72 hours from Jan. 22-26 for a “mental health crisis.”

Huntley said Gornick should have pursued treatment after being sentenced to probation in 2023.

Roe agreed. “That plea agreement had a number of conditions, one being to have no contact with the victim and another to cooperate with any psychological assessment. Psychological treatment was part of that order,” Roe said. “I understand mental health issues and crisis that go on with people that come before the court, and this is most likely a mental health issue, but the defendant should have sought treatment one and one half years ago.”

Class 4 felonies have a sentencing range of one to 6 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by six months of mandatory supervised release; probation of up to 30 months also can be ordered.