Park Forest man gets 20 years in connection with Ind. slaying

A Park Forest man was sentenced to 20 years Wednesday in connection with an ill-fated drug heist that left an 18-year-old woman dead.

Juarez Rogers, 53, was the driving force behind his nephew Giovante Galloway’s scheme to rob his marijuana supplier and former high school wrestling teammate William “Mikey” Hawkins, then 18, and use the proceeds to repay $1,600 Galloway owed Hawkins.

In the process, Hawkins’s girlfriend Alayna Ortiz ended up shot dead.

Five men were implicated. Two men — Rogers and his nephew Giovante Galloway — testified against co-defendants Elrice Williams and Joe Chuck Pittman. A fifth, Joshua Wright, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Illinois a month after Ortiz’s death.

They were each charged with several felonies including murder, armed robbery and burglary for events surrounding Ortiz’s Jan. 9, 2019, shooting death in the Park West apartments parking lot in Griffith, Indiana.

Williams and Pittman, who were recently convicted and sentenced to nearly 100 years each in prison. Both said they plan to appeal.

Without their pleas, Rogers and Galloway faced 45 to 65 years each for murder. Instead, their possible sentences each ranged from three to 22 years. Galloway’s next hearing is March 28.

Ortiz’s family spoke Wednesday of the devastating effect her death had on them and the anger they felt toward the men charged.

Rogers had “no remorse,” even telling Galloway to “keep your mouth shut,” her aunt Samantha Baldner said. He could have come forward sooner to tell what happened, she said. Instead, the family had to put up wanted posters and posts on social media.

Ortiz was “super, super lovable,” “super, super popular,” another aunt Shannon Hill said, “full of life, full of laughter.”

“To say our family is broken would be an understatement,” she said.

They have found ways to memorialize her, and had to attend her Portage High School graduation in her memory.

Juarez had some relatives die when he was imprisoned. Hill called it a “small taste of justice.”

Without “his direction,” Ortiz’s death wouldn’t have happened, she said.

Ortiz’s death was “absolutely horrible,” said Hailee Stone, who said she was her best friend.

With Williams’ and Pittman’s guilty verdict, the “anger” and “pain” came off her shoulders, she said.

She said Rogers should have “consequences, even if you didn’t pull the trigger.”

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Eric Randall noted that Galloway had the idea, but Rogers roped in the muscle in the plan to rob Hawkins.

They needed Rogers to “fill in gaps in the story” because Galloway didn’t know the others. Nevertheless, he had around 30 prior “contacts” with law enforcement, including nine felony convictions.

“I apologize to Miss Ortiz’s family,” Rogers said in court. “I have a daughter. I have several daughters. That’s why I decided to cooperate, to get out the facts.”

“I am sorry for what I have done,” he said. “(I wanted authorities) to find out what happened to this child.”

“I am going to accept whatever you have for me,” Rogers said. “I had to do what was right.”

He said he got threats in jail. His lawyer later said they had explored the possibility of moving him for his safety.

Rogers’ lawyer, Adam Tavitas, said he “can’t argue” against his client’s criminal record. Rogers met many times and was respectful to prosecutors and completely cooperated, the lawyer said.

His client said “how sorry he was there was a loss of life,” Tavitas said. “When he says he’s sorry … I completely believe him.”

One of the things that stood out the most was Rogers could have put a stop to what happened before it began, Lake Superior Judge Natalie Bokota told him. Instead, he encouraged Galloway.

“You were a role model for these younger defendants,” she said.

After the hearing, a shouting match broke out between the family’s near the courthouse’s exit. A deputy corralled Rogers’ family out the door, while Ortiz’s family went to the prosecutor’s office.