Fourth man admits to Round Lake Beach kidnapping

A fourth gang member has pleaded guilty in the drug-related kidnappings of six people from a Round Lake Beach restaurant and a fifth is weighing a plea offer from Kane County prosecutors.

Carlos Ortega, 32, of Chicago, will serve about 11 years in prison in exchange for his guilty plea Wednesday to his role in the Aug. 19, 2006, abductions, which ended after the hostages were rescued in a Carpentersville house.

On Thursday, another man charged in the plot, 19-year-old Sergio Martinez, of Carpentersville, had a May 8 court date scheduled.

Ortega's guilty plea to a pair of attempted aggravated kidnapping offenses makes him the fourth of seven gang members to go to prison in the botched robbery.

Masked men brandishing handguns raided the Villa's family restaurant in Round Lake Beach and took hostages after they couldn't find a stash of drugs they thought was inside, police have said.

The captives, a family of four, a cook and a customer, were taken to a house on Tee Road in Carpentersville and tortured for about six hours, until police showed up.

Three other suspects, Victor Hernandez of Marengo and Juan C. Martinez and Paul Munoz-Noriega, both of Chicago, have pleaded guilty to kidnapping offenses.

The man alleged to have been the ringleader in the crime, Antonio "Goofy" Torres Jr., of Carpentersville, has pleaded guilty to federal drug charges. He and another man are awaiting trial in Kane County in the kidnapping.