Woman gets six years for role in Glendale Hts. kidnap plot

A woman was sentenced to six years in prison Monday for her role in a violent Glendale Heights home invasion aimed at kidnapping a bank employee.

Larisa Martin, 30, formerly of Woodridge, admitted being the getaway driver in the July 17, 2006, break-in on Fullerton Avenue. She pleaded guilty to felony home invasion Nov. 28.

Her husband, Gregory J. Martin Jr., 26, pleaded guilty Dec. 19 to home invasion, conspiracy and attempted escape. He faces six to 45 years in prison when sentenced later this year.

No one was injured in the harrowing crime. The family, frightened from an attempted break-in two days earlier, slept together that night in a master bedroom.

A 28-year-old daughter awoke and saw two men wearing wigs, surgical masks and latex gloves and toting pillows heading her way. One held a gun, the other a meat cleaver.

They kicked the bedroom door off its frame and ordered the four family members to get on the bed and be quiet. But the daughter quickly dialed 911 on her cell phone. The intruders fled.

Prosecutor Helen Kapas-Erdman said the defendants had a lot more on their minds than a simple burglary. She said they planned to kidnap the female homeowner -- a senior teller at Mutual Bank in Downers Grove -- and force her to help them burglarize the institution.

Days earlier, the woman complained to police that she thought someone once followed her home and, on another occasion, tried to break into her home.

Police nabbed Gregory Martin the morning of the home invasion hiding on the Glendale Lakes Golf Course, which abuts the home.

Authorities said they recovered a loaded semiautomatic pistol, handcuffs, a stopwatch, a meat cleaver, two wigs, surgical mask, gloves, rolls of gray duct tape and medical tape and discarded clothing on the course.

Three months later, they tracked down the third defendant, William A. Hancock, 28, in Claremont, N.H. He is due in court Jan. 4.