Man Sentenced In Villa Park Carjacking: Prosecutors

VILLA PARK, IL – A man was sentenced Wednesday to prison in connection with the Villa Park carjacking of a car driven by a woman who was with her two small children, authorities said.

Luis Gomez-Garcia, 30, of Bensenville, pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping in DuPage County Court.

Gomez-Garcia was sentenced to 19 years in prison. He and the other suspect, 34-year-old Christopher Krieg of Carol Stream, have been in the county jail since October 2021, prosecutors said in a news release.

Krieg is set to appear in court next month.

In the late afternoon of Oct. 8, 2021, a woman with her children, ages 5 and 10, exited the North Park Plaza Shopping Center at 270 W. North Ave.

As the woman sat in the driver's seat with the window down, Gomez-Garcia approached her, put a 3½-inch blade to her throat and told her to move to the front passenger seat, according to the news release.

The woman followed the command, while Krieg sat with her children in the back seat, police said. Gomez-Garcia then ordered the woman to hand over her belongings, which included an iPhone 11, an Apple Watch and a wallet.

She was then told to drive to her house, but she went to a different place, where she and her children were released, police said.

Gomez-Garcia, who held the knife in his right hand the entire time, ordered the woman not to call the police. Krieg and Gomez-Garcia then ran away, police said.

Hours later, Villa Park and Chicago police found the woman's car in the 2900 block of Harrison Street in Chicago.

Krieg was in the stolen car and Gomez-Garcia was about 10 feet away, authorities said. Both were armed with knives. They were arrested.

"The shockingly violent conduct that Mr. Gomez-Garcia pled guilty to this morning, which is also alleged against his co-defendant, is simply horrifying," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in the news release. "I cannot begin to imagine the heart-stopping fear and terror this woman and her two young children were forced to endure while Mr. Gomez-Garcia held a knife to her throat and Mr. Krieg was allegedly in the back seat with the children. Thankfully, neither the woman nor her children were physically harmed during this alleged incident."