Man gets 22 years for attempted murder, robbery in Aurora

A Plano man who is already serving a 45-year sentence in prison received an additional sentence Wednesday of 22 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for an attempted murder in 2011 in Aurora.

A jury convicted 40-year-old Luis A. Lomeli on Feb. 4 of attempted first-degree murder, armed violence and armed robbery, according to a statement from the Kane County state’s attorney’s office. Circuit Judge James C. Hallock handed down the 22-year sentence Wednesday.

On May 1, 2011, Lomeli, his girlfriend and two other people borrowed someone’s car and drove from Ottawa to Aurora to rob someone because they wanted to buy alcohol and drugs, but had no money, prosecutors said.

When they arrived at a bar in the 1400 block of East New York Street in Aurora, Lomeli’s girlfriend planned to lure someone outside so the other three people could rob him, prosecutors said. But Lomeli, who used to live in Aurora, got impatient and decided to instead rob a man who had exited the bar.

Lomeli walked up to the man, asked for a lighter for a cigarette and then punched the man, prosecutors said. Lomeli’s two accomplices joined in, and Lomeli then held the man down as one of them stabbed the man in the back 13 times with a knife.

Security from the bar came outside and Lomeli and his accomplices then jumped back in the borrowed car and sped away with the victim’s money, prosecutors said. They left the girlfriend behind.

After they cleaned up at Lomeli’s relative’s home, the three bought drugs with the money, drove to another person’s house in Montgomery and forced their way inside, prosecutors said. They were not able to steal any money from that homeowner, so they went back to Ottawa.

Back in Ottawa, they bought more drugs and then beat to death the person who sold them the drugs, prosecutors said. Lomeli, who lives in the 12800 block of Route 34 in Plano, was sentenced in 2013 to 45 years in prison for first-degree murder.

Wednesday’s 22-year sentence for the Aurora attempted first-degree murder is to be served consecutive to the 45-year sentence, prosecutors said. He must serve at least 85 percent of the new sentence and receives credit for 989 days served in the Kane County Jail.

“Mr. Lomeli’s crimes were violent, unprovoked and random,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said in the statement. “He committed these crimes because he chose to place more importance on taking drugs than he did in the lives of other people. His poor choices and the ruined lives he left in the wake of these choices mean he most likely will spend the rest of his life in prison, a predictable outcome.”