A Chicago man was sentenced Wednesday to 68 years for his role as an accomplice in a November 2021 Hammond home invasion.
Garrett Whittenburg, 43, was convicted after a bench trial last month of rape, criminal confinement, armed robbery, burglary and sexual battery. He said he would appeal.
Whittenburg’s co-defendant Valentine Torrez initially told police he was a victim, too, on Nov. 13, 2021, when a masked man — i.e. Whittenburg — entered Torrez’s relative’s unlocked door in Hammond, blindfolded, then sexually assaulted her and the woman’s 12-year-old daughter.
The narrative soon changed.
Torrez was later charged after DNA tied him to the woman and her daughter’s assaults. Deputy Prosecutors Lindsey Lanham and Arturo Balcazar alleged Torrez helped plan the home invasion with Whittenburg to assault the female relative and take her credit cards. Whittenburg was accused of also assaulting the woman, not the girl.
On Wednesday, Balcazar read a letter from the mother, who wrote the trauma from the assault was “long-lasting.”
Defense lawyer Bradley Rozzi told Judge Salvador Vasquez the case was a “terrible situation” and asked for his client to avoid a maximum sentence.
Whittenburg had a “troubled” upbringing with an absent father and a mother who struggled with drugs, the lawyer said. He got into drugs early and his criminal record steadily grew. The home invasion was the “crescendo.” Whittenburg was formally diagnosed with a mental health disorder around 15 years ago, he said.
Over four years from the assault, the mother was still profoundly impacted, Balcazar said. He asked for 104 years, saying Whittenburg had been in-and-out of prison for years.
Whittenburg spoke in court for several minutes about his case — alleging at one point that Rozzi told him that he would lose the case.
The home invasion was “horrible,” Vasquez said, noting the mother was dragged from “room-to-room.” Whittenburg was “deceptive” and “manipulative,” and had worked together with Torrez.
During the case, Whittenburg rejected multiple plea deals. He was slated to testify against Torrez — as a condition of one plea — but had stopped cooperating with prosecutors months earlier.
After years of court filings, including mental competency evaluations, former defense lawyer Aaron Koonce’s bid for a mental health placement for Whittenburg was denied in October 2024.
On the day the bench trial was supposed to start, Koonce disclosed to Judge Natalie Bokota that Whittenburg had earlier sued him, her and most other lawyers in the case in federal court. Bokota recused herself. Koonce withdrew from the case.
The federal lawsuit was dismissed in June.
Torrez is serving 33 years after he was convicted in May 2024 of rape, a Level 3 felony; child molesting; and criminal confinement — about half his charges. The Indiana Court of Appeals rejected his bid to throw out his conviction.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
