Crime & Safety

Mentor Man Pleads Guilty To Abducting, Attacking Former Girlfriend

Robert Sajovic is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20

A Mentor man admitted to attacking his former girlfriend and not letting her leave when she tried to escape.

Robert Sajovic, 46, pleaded guilty to abduction and domestic violence last week in Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

Abduction means to use force or threat to "restrain the liberty of another person under circumstances that create a risk of physical harm to the victim or place the other person in fear," according to the Ohio Revised Code.

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He had also been charged with kidnapping and felonious assault but those charges were dismissed.

Judge Joseph Gibson is scheduled to sentence Sajovic Feb. 20.

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Sajovic was arrested in September after he met with a woman at a house in Mentor. He had been drinking and, at some point in the morning, started attacking the woman, Mentor Police Lt. Tim Allen said at the time of Sajovic's arrest.

The woman said he choked her, struck her and held her down on the bed when she tried to leave.

The victim was able to use her iPhone to record audio of Sajovic's attack, Allen said.

The woman was ultimately able to leave the house after she promised not to tell anyone about the attack, Allen said.

She drove to the nearby Speedway gas station and called police. Then the woman -- who had a lump on her forehead, a swollen eye and redness around her neck -- was taken to the hospital.

Sagovic has been charged with domestic violence before. He was charged with that, as well as felonious assault, after he shot his then wife in the leg in 2006, Allen said.

However, both charges from that previous incident were ultimately dismissed and Sajovic was convicted of attempted negligent assault -- a charge that can be used when someone hurts someone on accident.


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