Drug cartel soldier receives 18 years

A man working to pay off a debt to a Mexican drug cartel was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday for his role in the kidnapping and torture of an Aurora man, authorities said.

Martin Prado, 34, was convicted after a trial earlier this year on a pair of aggravated kidnapping offenses in the drug-related April 17, 2006, abduction, which left the victim severely injured.

Prado, of Cicero, had been jailed on a $1 million bond since his arrest two days after the kidnapping by police detectives waiting at the ransom drop, said Pam Monaco, a Kane County prosecutor.

Juan Martinez, 52, a Vietnam veteran, was beaten, dragged from his home and taken to an Aurora house on Bangs Street and then Cicero, where he was handcuffed to a bed frame for two days.

Martinez wasn't the initial target of the kidnapping, but his abductors, cartel soldiers, demanded $20,000 and a car. The plot ended when Prado and two others arrived at an Aurora shopping mall for the ransom, Monaco said.

"It's hard to imagine what the victim went through. He had no idea what was going to happen to him," Monaco said.

Prado, a Mexican citizen, was convicted Jan. 30 after a three-day trial. He has said he was forced to take part in the caper to pay off a drug-related debt to the gang, which operates in Aurora.

Judge Timothy Sheldon sentenced Prado to nine years on each kidnapping count, with credit for 747 days in jail. Before he is eligible for parole, Prado must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence.

Another cartel member has pleaded guilty in the kidnapping and another is awaiting trial.