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Man gets 68 years in prison for kidnapping, sex assault

A man with ties to Lake County who was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a woman during a multistate crime spree was sentenced Tuesday to 68 years behind bars.

Cristian De La O Hernandez, 25, was sentenced by Judge Daniel Shanes to prison sentences of 40 years for aggravated kidnapping and 28 years for sexually assaulting a woman at the American Inn Motel on Sheridan Road in Beach Park after he killed her friend in DeKalb, Georgia.

Shanes ruled the sentence for the May 2, 2012, crime spree should be served consecutively in Illinois. But, he added, the sentence would not be served unless Hernandez is released from the life sentence he received for the Georgia murder.

Hernandez was facing a maximum of 75 years in prison on the Illinois charges.

"From Georgia to Illinois, you terrorized this woman," Shanes said. "This is the type of behavior a civilized society cannot tolerate."

Hernandez has a last known listed address on the 6100 block of 20th Street in Kenosha, Wisconsin, but he lived in Zion before heading to Georgia.

Authorities said Hernandez met two women at a dance club in Georgia and persuaded them to go with him to a different bar across town. While riding in a car driven by one of the women, Hernandez pulled out a handgun and began firing shots out the window at random objects, authorities said.

He then pointed the gun at the driver and ordered her to let him drive, authorities said.

After getting behind the wheel, Hernandez ordered the woman riding in the back seat to climb into the front seat to have sex with him. When she didn't, Hernandez shot and killed her friend, authorities said.

Hernandez left the murdered woman's body and her car at the first Georgia bar, then picked up his own vehicle and forced the surviving woman inside, authorities said.

Hernandez picked up a friend, then drove from Georgia to Illinois. The murder victim, her car and the surviving woman's purse were found by police in Georgia about six hours later, authorities said.

Authorities said Hernandez sexually assaulted the surviving woman in Georgia, at a gas station during the trip to Illinois and at the Beach Park motel.

The victim was able to text a friend for help during the trip, authorities said, and that friend phoned police.

Lake County sheriff's deputies and members of the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Hernandez at the motel and returned him to Georgia to stand trial for murder

After that conviction, he was returned to Lake County, where he was found guilty by a jury Oct. 31.

"At point blank range, you shooting that woman in the head is the stuff that nightmares are made of," Shanes said. "There are some things a person does that allows them to forfeit their right to walk in a free society."

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