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After years of delays, a Chicago man is on trial this week for his alleged role as an accomplice in a November 2021 Hammond home invasion.

Garrett Whittenburg, 42, is charged with four counts of rape, one count of criminal confinement, armed robbery, burglary, sexual battery, robbery, carrying a handgun and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

He has pleaded not guilty and chose a bench trial, which would be conducted before a judge, rather than a jury.

Whittenburg’s co-defendant Valentine Torrez initially told police he was a victim, too, on Nov. 13, 2021, when a masked man — i.e. Whittenburg — entered Torrez’s relative’s unlocked door in Hammond, blindfolded, then sexually assaulted her and the woman’s 12-year-old d

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