A Cedar Lake man was sentenced to 11 years Tuesday after admitting he attacked his then-girlfriend, then seven months later attacked her again and threatened her two family members with a gun.
Eric S. Olson, 30, pleaded guilty to lower charges, according to a plea agreement filed on March 22. His sentence was split into parts.
He admitted to domestic battery resulting in moderate bodily injury and intimidation, both level 6 felonies, knocking down a March 2020 criminal confinement and domestic battery case. The plea calls for him to serve 5 years.
He also admitted to intimidation and domestic battery by means of a deadly weapon, both level 5 felonies, in exchange for his October 2020 attempted murder case. In total, his plea called for six years under those counts.
Once the 5-year term is done, he is eligible for Indiana’s Purposeful Incarceration Program. Then, he can petition to change his remaining 6-year term.
Olson said in court Tuesday that he struggled with substance abuse and no longer dated the woman.
His lawyer, Maryam Afshar-Stewart, said Olson was a single father to a young son and also had twin girls. He was remorseful and seeking help for his addiction struggles, she said.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Nadia Wardrip said the case was “challenging” from the start.
Prosecutors were on verge of dismissing the charges a year before, since the victim and her two relatives had refused to cooperate. They felt they could handle Olson on their own, which she did not “condone.”
At one point, prosecutors were threatening to arrest the victim to force her cooperation, Wardrip said.
Prosecutors had hoped for 20 years in the case, but the 11-year term was an “appropriate meeting in the middle,” Wardrip added.
Senior Judge Michael Bergerson, filling in for Judge Natalie Bokota, accepted the plea and agreed sentence, wishing Olson “some peace somewhere in your life,” he said. “Good luck to you.”
Police were called at 9:28 p.m. March 18, 2020, to the 8300 block of North Lake Shore Drive. A witness told police she heard Olson’s girlfriend screaming from inside their apartment.
When she knocked on the door, Olson said everything was fine, charges state. The girlfriend screamed again for the witness to call 911.
When police arrived, no one answered. After a few unanswered calls, an officer knocked down the locked apartment door, which was barricaded with a dining room chair, charges state.
Olson appeared, holding his girlfriend as a “shield” from police. She was also holding her 2-year-old child in her arms.
He declined to follow the officer’s commands, was subdued and arrested. The girlfriend asked police to check on her other children hiding in a closet, charges state.
He told the children to be quiet, or he would kill their mother, charges alleged. Earlier during the fight, he threw her to the ground and grabbed her by the biceps.
Olson had “beaten and strangled” her, the woman said. The woman believed he would have killed her if the witness hadn’t knocked on the door, documents state. The incident started with an argument over a phone, she said.
Months later, police were called Oct. 20, 2020, to the 7200 block of West 43rd Avenue in Cedar Lake.
The same woman, who was in an on-and-off relationship with Olson, said he hit her in the left thigh with a curtain rod, documents state. She called her sister, who arrived with their father, charges state.
Olson went outside with a gun and threatened to shoot them, charges allege.
Between the two separate cases, Olson was originally charged with a laundry list of felonies including attempted murder.
