A local man will be serving prison time for child abuse.

Eric J. Eschmann, 46, of Waterloo, was sentenced last Wednesday in Monroe County Circuit Court to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections – to be served at 85 percent – for aggravated domestic battery (strangulation). 

The incident occurred June 11, 2023, at a property on Kopp Road. Police said that video surveillance shows Eschmann using a belt to wrap around a child’s waist and then around the neck. He struck the child with a closed fist after throwing the child in a pool, police said – all while having the belt around the child’s neck. 

Eschmann was given credit for 41 days already served in jail. In addition, he was fined $4,049. 

A charge of aggrvated battery of a child under 13 years of age was dismissed.

Following this incident, the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services took protective custody of the children at the property.