Crystal Lake man pleads guilty to 5th domestic violence charge, gets 5+ years in prison

A Crystal Lake man accused of throwing a knife more than 3 inches long at a woman’s head pleaded guilty to what is his fifth conviction of domestic battery and was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, according to McHenry County court records.

Matthew D. Looper, 34, pleaded guilty to the Class 2 felony on May 2 as part of a plea deal. He had four prior convictions of domestic battery and has served prison time, according to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and court records.

In exchange for his guilty plea, additional counts were dismissed. Looper had also been charged with aggravated assault using a deadly weapon, possessing a knife and stun gun with intent to use unlawfully, and interfering with the reporting of domestic violence.

Looper is required to serve at least half of his prison term. He will receive credit for 409 days in the county jail since his arrest, according to the sentencing order.

When he completes his term, he will be on mandatory supervised release for four years, according to the order.

Looper was charged after Wonder Lake police officers and McHenry County sheriff’s deputies responded March 21, 2023, to reports of domestic violence at a Wonder Lake home, according to a news release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Witnesses at the scene told officers that a verbal argument between Looper and the victim “escalated when Looper shoved the victim,” according to the release.

“Though the victim was uninjured, the argument escalated again when Looper retrieved knives from the nearby kitchen,” the State’s Attorney’s Office said in the release. “The victim and her elderly mother quickly contacted 911 and fled the residence when law enforcement arrived. Officers confronted Looper who was standing in the front doorway of the residence armed with two knives.

Officers began crisis negotiations with Looper to try to deescalate the situation, according to the release. Looper ultimately surrendered.

“The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office takes crimes of domestic violence very seriously, as they often involve a repeated pattern of harm,” according to the release.

Looper was convicted on charges of domestic violence in McHenry County involving different women in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2020, court records show.

At the time Looper was charged in his current case, he was on parole for the 2020 case, in which he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He was paroled from the Illinois River Correctional Center on Jan. 28, 2022, and serving four years mandatory supervised release, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.