Man guilty of Carpentersville home invasion, kidnapping

One of two Cook County men convicted in a spate of robberies early this year was sentenced to an additional 6½ years in prison Wednesday for tying up a Carpentersville couple and kidnapping their 5-year-old daughter.

Brian Norbut, 22, of the 800 block of Dorman Drive, Streamwood, pleaded guilty to home invasion in Kane County and was sentenced to 24½ years in prison. The sentence is be served concurrent with an 18-year term Norbut is serving for four other robberies in Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates and Rolling Meadows.

Prosecutors said Norbut and a co-defendant followed a Carpentersville family home from Kohl's at Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee on Feb. 1 and accosted them in their garage with a baseball bat and BB guns. Once inside the home, the men disguised with masks and goggles bound the family with duct tape and looted electronics and jewelry.

Norbut then forced the couple's 5-year-old daughter into a vehicle and drove her to an ATM to retrieve $400 from a bank account under the threat of killing her, Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Greg Sams said.

"I can't imagine what was going on in the mind of a 5-year-old girl during all of this," Sams said.

Sams said police caught up with Norbut and co-defendant Antonio Espino, 22, of Palatine, after they used a Walmart gift card that was stolen from the family. Cell phone records also placed them in the area of the Carpentersville robbery at the time, he said.

Last month, Norbut and Espino pleaded guilty in Cook County to vehicular hijacking, home invasion and aggravated kidnapping and were sentenced to 18 years in prison. The charges stemmed from the robberies of a Prospect Heights couple and a Schaumburg woman, and two holdups at Subway restaurants in Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg, in February and March.

Norbut did not make a statement at his court appearance Wednesday, but he blew a kiss to relatives and yelled, "I love you" after he was sentenced. Defense attorney Gary Topol declined to comment, saying Norbut had not authorized him to speak to the news media.

Espino, of the 1500 block of Crimson Lane, remains charged in Kane County in connection with the Carpentersville home invasion. His next court date is Oct. 14.