Byron man accused of stalking, cyberstalking and harassment granted continuance

OREGON – The defense attorney for a Byron man who is charged with sending hundreds of emails to a woman despite being ordered to have no contact with her following a plea agreement for a 2022 domestic battery charge, asked for and received more time Tuesday to prepare for her client’s next status hearing.

Andrew Gornick, 43, appeared in court Tuesday, June 24, with his attorney, Cassandra Hirth of Rockford, for a petition to revoke hearing on the 2022 charge.

In February, 16 charges of stalking, cyberstalking and harassment through electronic communication – all felonies - were filed against Gornick.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges, which are alleged to have occurred in January.

Hirth began serving as Gornick’s attorney in February. Gornick previously was represented by the Ogle County Public Defender’s Office.

On Tuesday, Hirth asked Judge John “Ben” Roe for a continuance to obtain Gornick’s medical records, which she said are essential to determining her client’s mental health.

“His medical records tie into his mental health issues,” Hirth argued. “They would give us the opportunity to give the court insight as to what he was going through at the time.”

Hirth estimated that obtaining the records from a Rockford hospital would take two to four months.

Assistant State’s Attorney Allison Huntley objected to the continuance.

“These cases have been pending for some time,” Huntley argued when referring to three open cases against Gornick. “The victim is here to testify today. There is no need to continue. The defense has had many months to prepare.”

Hirth disagreed, arguing that Gornick’s rights should outweigh any “judicial economy.”

“We have acted in good faith,” Hirth argued. “We have tried to get things resolved.”

Roe said the petition to revoke charge had been ongoing for some time, but he needed to balance the alleged victim’s rights with those of Gornick’s.

“But there is also a concern for prolonging this for months,” Roe said, noting the charges against Gornick were punishable by a prison sentence. “At this point in time, I need to grant a continuance for a fair hearing.

“I’ll give you a reasonable time for you to get those records and we will go from there,” Roe told Hirth, setting the next status hearing for 9 a.m. Aug. 26.

He also ordered Hirth to provide Huntley with those records by 11 a.m. Aug. 22 so she would have time to review them before the hearing.

In February, Hirth asked Judge Anthony Peska for at least four 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, where he still is held.

In the 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 then was charged in April 2024 with cyberstalking and electronic harassment for a series of emails in December 2023 that prosecutors said 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 said 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 woman in all the new cases is the same person listed in the previous charges. A man 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 to the woman from Jan. 18 to 21.

Huntley said Gornick’s emails had gone to the woman’s junk email folder because she 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 said 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.

At that time, Assistant Public Defender Eric Morrow agreed that the messages were “alarming in nature” but said Gornick needed mental health treatment rather than to be held in the Ogle County Jail.

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 six 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.