Ringleader of Glendale Hts. home invasion, bank robbery gets 27 years
In a taped conversation from a jailhouse phone call, Gregory Martin Jr. is heard lamenting to his wife that he was facing decades in prison for a botched home invasion and bank robbery.
He proved to be better at fortune-telling than crime when a judge handed down a 27-year sentence Monday.
The 26-year-old Woodridge man was the third person sentenced to prison for the 2006 break-in at the Glendale Heights home of a bank teller. Prosecutors labeled Martin the ringleader.
Martin's wife received six years for her part in the planning, and his buddy, William A. Hancock, 28, got 15 years for acting as an accomplice in the actual break-in.
The trio had targeted the woman in a convoluted scheme to break into her home, kidnap her and force her to open the bank so they could rob her drawer and other tellers as they showed up for work.
They had staked out the bank and followed their victim home at least twice. They followed so closely that the woman noticed she was being tailed.
The break-in was thwarted when they awoke the woman's daughter. The daughter immediately called police and they fled.
"I can't imagine the fear that went through her mind after seeing two men in her home wearing wigs, masks and carrying weapons," said Judge Michael Burke during Monday's sentencing. "Well, we heard it on the tape, actually. The poor dispatcher couldn't get her to calm down."
When the duo fled the home they left a trail of evidence in their wake. Police found their clothes, wigs, weapons and other equipment strewn across a golf course adjacent to the victims' house.
Among the items recovered was a handgun registered to Martin. Glendale Heights police detective Charles May said the gun was found with nine bullets in it, including one in the chamber, and the safety was off.
Besides having the physical evidence, prosecutors got Hancock to agree to testify against Martin in exchange for a lesser sentence.
In addition to the charges he faced for the home invasion, Martin also was charged with attempting to escape from jail after authorities uncovered a scheme to fake an injury and break out of custody at Central DuPage Hospital.
A rambling, six-page letter to his wife explaining the plan and including a map of the DuPage County government complex in Wheaton was found in his sock during a court appearance.
Martin agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence no less than 23 years and no more than 30 years. Monday he begged for leniency.
"I am not a monster. I'm not an evil man," he told the judge. "I'm a husband, a father and a God-fearing man who accepts his guilt and am awaiting my punishment."
Prosecutor Helen Kapas-Erdman sought the full 30-year sentence.
"He showed no mercy to (the victims) and this court should not show him any mercy or leniency," she said. "The family will never ever feel safe in their home because of what this defendant did."
Martin's attorney tried to paint Hancock as the mastermind of the plot and his client as a patsy. But Martin's own mother testified that her son would often talk for hours about "elaborate schemes, fantasies and ramblings." But she said it was never anything violent.
Kapas-Erdman pounced on the mother's descriptions of her son's "manic" episodes to show the connection between detailed planning of the home invasion and jail escape attempt.
"We will all sleep better at night knowing he'll be locked up for some time," she said.
Martin has served nearly two years in jail and he will be credited with that time toward his prison sentence. He will be eligible for parole in less than 12 years.