‘Awful criminal record for someone who’s just turned 21,‘ Martinez gets 28 years in Ottawa home invasion

An Ottawa man was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for an armed Ottawa home invasion during which shots were fired.

When offered a chance to address his sentencing judge, Fernando Martinez acknowledged some misconduct: “I know I made mistakes.”

“I’m ready for whatever,” Martinez said. “It is what it is.”

Martinez, 21, was convicted in La Salle County Circuit Court of home invasion, a Class X felony carrying six to 30 years in prison with a mandated 20-year addition for use of a firearm.

Actually, Martinez pleaded guilty Thursday to two unrelated burglaries (a vehicle in Ottawa and a tavern in Grand Ridge) and was sentenced to five-year sentences. Both, however, will run concurrently with his time for the armed home invasion.

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Fernando Martinez enters the courtroom on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025, at the La Salle County Governmental Complex in Ottawa. Martinez was sentenced to 28 years in prison for an Ottawa home invasion, during which shots were fired. (Scott Anderson)

Assistant Public Defender Heidi Nelson asked Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. to hold Martinez’s time to the minimum 26 years, citing his troubled background. Martinez, she said, had suffered abuse and the death of his mother, which made him turn to drugs.

“To say Fernando has had a complicated upbringing is an understatement,” Nelson said.

Assistant La Salle County State’s Attorney Matt Kidder asked for 30 years, citing a “nonstop” streak of crime beginning when Martinez was a juvenile and ending with “the tear he was on in 2023,” when he committed the home invasion and two more burglaries.

“For a young man, he’s been a busy individual,” Kidder said, “and has a pretty awful criminal record for someone who’s just turned 21.”

Kidder further noted that Martinez is eligible for a newly enacted law that makes him eligible for parole after 10 years in prison.

Ryan didn’t acknowledge the new statute giving Martinez a crack at probation after a decade in custody. The judge did, however, acknowledge that Martinez had some rehabilitative potential as well as a criminal history that precluded a minimum sentence.

Martinez said he intends to appeal his conviction and sentence.

Notably, Martinez never cooperated during any stage of the investigation launched Nov. 2, 2023. That night, an Ottawa woman said an intruder put a gun to her head and demanded the combination to a safe. She said she didn’t know the combination, and the gunman struck her behind her left ear.

The woman was, however, able to send text messages to her live-in boyfriend, who raced home with two companions in tow. He entered the home with a .38 pistol and fired at one of the intruders. Not long after, Martinez was found at Morris Hospital being treated for a gunshot wound to his arm.

At trial, Martinez argued that there was no direct evidence linking him to the break-in.

His defense was undercut by a pair of damning videos. While at Morris Hospital, Martinez initially told a Grundy County sheriff’s deputy, whose body camera recorded everything, that he’d been shot at a party in Mazon. When the story fell apart, Martinez became combative and defiant.

Hours later in Ottawa, a home surveillance system recorded Martinez handing off a pistol and a shopping bag to a cohort. Inside the bag was an Xbox video game console with a serial number that matched a console taken from the crime scene.

Two related cases were settled late last year.

A second intruder, Michael Boaz of Ottawa, pleaded guilty to home invasion and was sentenced to 16 years. He is scheduled for parole in early 2032.

Kaylee Neitzel – who drove Martinez to the hospital, lied to police and tried to thwart the investigation – pleaded guilty to one count of felony obstructing justice. She was placed on probation.