BENSENVILLE, Ill. - A former Bensenville man has been sentenced to 19 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for hijacking a woman's car at knifepoint from a suburban parking lot while her two children were in the back seat.
Luis Gomez-Garcia, 30, pled guilty Wednesday morning to one count of aggravated kidnapping.
On Oct. 8, 2021, Villa Park police officers responded to a call of an aggravated carjacking that occurred in the parking lot of a shopping mall located at 270 W. North Ave.
At about 4:48 p.m., it was determined that the victim and her children, ages 10 and five, exited the mall and entered her vehicle.
About a minute later, Gomez-Garcia approached the vehicle while the victim sat in the driver's seat with the window down.
He then put a 3.5-inch blade to the woman's throat and told the victim to move over to the front passenger seat.
As the victim moved over, Gomez Garcia's co-defendant, 34-year-old Christopher Krieg, formerly of Carol Stream, entered the rear passenger area of the vehicle with the victim's children, prosecutors said.
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Gomez-Garcia then ordered the victim to give him her property which included her iPhone 11, Apple Watch and wallet. He then told the victim to drive to her house, but the victim drove to a different location where she and her children were released from the vehicle, prosecutors said.
Gomez-Garcia then told the victim not to contact the police while holding a knife in his right hand the entire time.
Gomez-Garcia and Krieg then fled in the victim's vehicle.
At about 7:21 p.m. that same day, the victim's vehicle was located in the 2900 block of West Harrison in Chicago.
Krieg was found in the stolen vehicle and Gomez-Garcia was found about 10 feet away from the vehicle, prosecutors said.
Both men were armed with a knife and were taken into custody at that time.
"The shockingly violent conduct that Mr. Gomez-Garcia pled guilty to this morning, which is also alleged against his co-defendant, is simply horrifying," said DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin. "I cannot begin to imagine the heart-stopping fear and terror this woman and her two young children were forced to endure while Mr. Gomez-Garcia held a knife to her throat and Mr. Krieg was allegedly in the back seat with the children."
The case against Krieg is still pending. His next court date is scheduled for March 10.