Kidnap plot leads to jail time

A Marengo man pleaded guilty Monday to his role in the kidnapping of a family of four and two bystanders from a Round Lake Beach restaurant, his attorney said.

Victor Hernandez, 19, received a 15-year sentence in the Aug. 19, 2006, abductions, an ordeal which ended at a Carpentersville house after police rescued the hostages.

Hernandez pleaded guilty to an attempted aggravated kidnapping offense and must serve more than 7 years before he is eligible for parole.

"Obviously, Victor believes this is in his best interest and he apologizes to the victims in this case and that they had to suffer," Geneva attorney DJ Tegeler said.

In exchange for his guilty plea, Kane County prosecutors agreed to drop about 20 charges in the kidnappings and at least two probation violations Hernandez faced.

He could have been sentenced to up to 60 years in prison if he was convicted on the most serious allegations, Tegeler said.

Hernandez is the third of seven alleged gang members convicted in the incident at the Villa's restaurant, which police have said took place in a botched holdup.

Masked men armed with handguns, plastic "zip ties" and duct tape raided Villa's and took hostages after they couldn't find a stash of drugs, which they thought was hidden inside, police said.

The captives, who included a cook and a customer, were taken to a Tee Road house for about six hours and tortured before police showed up.

On Thursday, another kidnapper, Juan C. Martinez, 27, of Chicago, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in the plot. Another Chicago man, Paul Munoz-Noriega, pleaded guilty in May and is serving a 12-year sentence.

Last month, alleged ringleader Antonio "Goofy" Torres Jr., 27, of Carpentersville, was sentenced to 25 years in a federal drug case. Torres and three others are awaiting trial on Kane County offenses in the kidnappings.