Man gets prison time for metro-east home invasion, threatening cop

A Granite City man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for breaking into a woman’s home and attacking a police officer who responded.

Associate Judge Emily Nielsen on Wednesday sentenced Victor S. Dantzson, 52, to the Illinois Department of Corrections after a jury convicted him of residential burglary, aggravated battery and threatening a public official.

Prosecutors said Dantzson used a screwdriver March 4, 2025, to break into the home of an ex-girlfriend. The woman was not home at the time but returned to find him in her bedroom, authorities said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, if you need a screwdriver to get in, you should not be there,” Assistant State’s Attorney Gina McNabnay told jurors during the trial.

When an officer arrived, Dantzson kicked the officer and threatened to kill him, prosecutors said.

At trial, the woman testified she had become afraid of Dantzson and had changed the locks and set traps inside the home in an effort to keep him away, according to court records.

The state also played patrol-vehicle video recorded after Dantzson was taken into custody in which he can be heard saying, “I’m killing that bitch,” prosecutors said. After his arrest, Dantzson tried to call the woman 501 times from jail, the prosecutor said.

Assistant State’s Attorney Morgan Hudson argued the evidence showed Dantzson would not accept the end of the relationship.

“He wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” she told jurors, according to the release.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that Dantzson was convicted in an earlier case involving a different ex-girlfriend, saying he repeatedly broke into her home and stabbed her. He was convicted of armed violence and sentenced to 17 years in prison, according to court records. Prosecutors argued that conviction showed a pattern of behavior.

Hudson asked for a 30-year sentence, citing Dantzson’s criminal history and the nature of the crime, Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said. It took the jury less than 30 minutes to convict Dantzson.