A Hammond man got 33 years Tuesday in connection with a 2021 home invasion and sexual assaults of a relative and her daughter.
A jury delivered a split verdict on April 4 for Valentine Torrez, now 50.
They convicted him of rape, a Level 3 felony; child molesting, and criminal confinement. He was acquitted of rape, a Level 1 felony, i.e. rape with a deadly weapon; burglary; and robbery.
His lawyer Kerry Connor said he would appeal.
Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar said both victims — the woman, and her daughter, then 12 — chose not to provide statements for Torrez’s sentencing.
Connor read bits of two letters. The first, from Torrez’s wife Celia, said he was a “good person”, and what happened was “all a big mistake.”
His wife asked a judge to look at the “hurt in his eyes” before any sentence. A second woman wrote it wasn’t the man she knew and said the allegations were “very hard to believe.”
Balcazar argued Torrez had seven past felonies and “terrorized” the victims in their own home. He had to be “physically restrained” by multiple cops to get a DNA swab and disregarded the court by giving a play-by-play of the trial to his wife, before she testified.
During the home invasion, he wordlessly coordinated with co-defendant Garrett Whittenburg to separate, blindfold and assault the victims. He said Torrez dragged the girl, blindfolded to her bedroom.
“This is the person that he is,” Balcazar said.
He asked for a maximum term — 34 years.
Connor countered it wasn’t proven Torrez was the one who dragged the girl. She also took issue when Balcazar earlier introduced Whittenburg’s plea.
Whittenburg stopped cooperating in the case when he refused to give a pre-trial deposition, he did not sit down under oath and answer any questions for the defense, or testify at trial, she said. She noted he has written many letters to the court. It would be problematic to take what he said into account, Connor argued.
Most of Torrez’s criminal history was for auto theft, she said. He got married in 2012, left prison and tried to live a relatively clean life, until the home invasion.
Torrez was mostly raised in foster care and on the street, growing up “so poor” he stole cars to get money.
He and his wife had a stable relationship and there were no prior allegations of molestation, the lawyer said. Judge Natalie Bokota later said Torrez court records showed he had been on cocaine, marijuana and alcohol at the time of the home invasion.
If not for that, it might not have happened, Connor argued.
She asked for an advisory sentence, including some time suspended to transition out of prison.
“I’ve never been violent to a woman or children in my life,” Torrez said in comments to the court. He asked Bokota to show him “mercy” to “allow me to have some type of future.”
Bokota conceded Torrez had a “very challenging life,” but had been committing crimes on-and-off for about 37 years.
“You chose on that day to victimize (them),” she told Torrez.
It was planned, “extremely frightening and traumatizing” to the little girl. He “violated” the victims.
“These are people who trusted you,” Bokota said.
He robbed the young girl “of her innocence,” the judge said, noting when she testified, the child “fell apart” at times and had hesitated before saying what happened.
Torrez looked down briefly as he was sentenced.
Court records allege Torrez and Whittenburg planned the home invasion together to rob the woman, Torrez’s relative, and sexually assault her.
The woman told police Torrez showed up Nov. 13, 2021, looking for “something to drink,” charges state. Five minutes later, another man walked into her house. One had a gun and was wearing a white sweatshirt, mask and gloves, according to court documents.
“You don’t have to do this,” Torrez said. “Take whatever you want.”
Torrez later identified the man as Whittenburg, court documents said. He told police he was ordered to tie up the 12-year-old girl, who had been asleep on a sofa. When he refused, the second man covered the girl’s head and took her to her bedroom, according to charges.
The woman told police her face was covered with a ski mask and head in a towel before she was sexually assaulted “repeatedly.” She felt two sets of hands while being assaulted, she said. One of the men patted the woman on her shoulder, saying she wouldn’t get hurt, according to the affidavit.
A man — later identified as Torrez — molested the girl in her bedroom while she was blindfolded, the child told police, court documents said.
The woman said Whittenburg and the other man took her iPhone and debit card before leaving, charges state. The woman and child were later examined at a hospital.
Torrez claimed he was just at the house. He was later changed after DNA tied him to the woman and her daughter’s assaults.
The DNA hit from both victims matched “Valentino Torres,” which investigators said matched Valentine Torrez in police databases, according to charges.
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