Teen gets 15-year prison term for carjacking friend
A teenage girl with a horrific past was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for a violent attack against a friend in Clarendon Hills after he agreed to do her a favor.
Martha K. Alencastro repeatedly stabbed a male friend late Feb. 22 before she and an accomplice stole the man's van.
The 19-year-old Chicago woman pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking charges earlier this summer. She faced six to 25 years in prison for the crime. A co-defendant is facing similar charges.
Alencastro admitted asking her 10-year friend for a ride that day after she was evicted. He agreed to drive her to an apartment complex on the 200 block of Oxford Street in Clarendon Hills.
Prosecutor David Imielski said Alencastro made up the ride story as a ruse to set up her friend. After they arrived, Alencastro put a fake gun to the man's head and ordered him to remain still.
He tried to flee, but an accomplice standing outside the van smashed a bottle over his head.
"That is when Martha cut me from behind with a knife," said the man, who was hospitalized for one day. "She cut my neck and stabbed me in the shoulder and in my stomach. I yelled for help and people started coming out. I escaped and started running toward the buildings."
He added: "I tried to help Martha and, in return, I have suffered greatly."
Brian Jacobs, a senior assistant public defender, sought leniency. He said Alencastro was repeatedly molested, beginning at age 9, by several men who her prostitute mother brought into their home.
Alencastro did not have a prior criminal history. She has participated in several substance-abuse and religion classes in the DuPage County jail.
The defendant also asked for a second chance. She spoke of her remorse and regret. Alencastro said she turned to a life of alcohol and drugs to self-medicate but wants to change for her 11-month-old daughter. She pledged to continue with counseling and to get her GED.
"I wish to be there for my daughter, while she still is a child, to help her and guide her so she doesn't make the same bad decisions I have made," Alencastro said. "I myself come from a family of alcoholics and addicts and I don't want her to fall victim to this horrible disease, but to break the cycle so she doesn't have to have the life that I have lived."
Alencastro, who has remained in jail on a $200,000 bond since her arrest two days after the crime, must serve 85 percent of the prison term before being eligible for parole.