Homeless Man Sentenced For Kidnapping Mom, 2 Kids In Stolen Car

WHEELING, IL — A homeless man pleaded guilty to kidnapping a mother and her two young children as they waited in a car in a drug store parking lot last year in exchange for a sentence of 14.5 years in state prison. On the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 12, 2017, police received a call from a man who explained his wife and two children, a 3-year-old and a 1-week old, had gone missing after he left a car running in the parking lot of the Walgreens at the corner of Dundee Road and Milwaukee Avenue as he briefly stepped into the store. When he emerged, the car and his family were gone, and calls to his wife's cellphone went unanswered, police said.

Leon M. Spektor, 39, was arrested three days after the incident in the 300 block of West Chicago Avenue after police identified him based on surveillance footage. After stealing the car and kidnapping the woman and her children, Spektor was captured on tape at a 7-Eleven at the O'Hare Oasis on I-294. He was charged with aggravated kidnapping, motor vehicle theft, unlawful restraint and other offenses.

State police had issued an emergency alert to law enforcement and authorities had just issued an AMBER alert when police received a call from the kidnapped woman. She had been released about 25 miles away from the Wheeling Walgreens in the 4700 block of West Belmont Avenue in Chicago. Neither of the children nor their mother was physically injured in the incident.

The woman told police the Spektor had stolen her cellphone and some cash. Spektor, who was known to Wheeling police from previous interactions, was identified within hours after a detective had a hunch he was involved, police said.

Spektor, formerly of Wheeling, has a lengthy criminal history in the north suburbs, with convictions for burglary, theft and drug possession, as well as an ill-fated attempt to flee on foot from the Lake County Courthouse during a court hearing.

In exchange for his Aug. 3 guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop other charges, including automobile theft and unlawful restraint. Spektor was booked into Menard Correctional Center Sept. 10. Spektor three counts of aggravated kidnapping, a class X felony, are to be served concurrently, and he must serve 85 percent of the term of the sentence. According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, he would eligible for parole in October 2029.

Video released by police from the O'Hare Oasis 7-Eleven:

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