Chicago City Wire

Three men have been sentenced to federal prison for their involvement in a violent kidnapping incident in Chicago. The individuals, Antonio Salgado, Octavio Alejandre Jr., and Armando Delgado, were implicated in the 2015 abduction of a man mistakenly identified as a target due to suspected drug trafficking connections.

The victim was kidnapped at gunpoint outside his suburban Chicago residence and held for nearly two days at an auto body shop in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood. During this time, he was blindfolded, beaten, and subjected to threats while the kidnappers demanded drugs or cash from another relative.

Federal authorities had intercepted several phones belonging to the defendants during an unrelated investigation. A recorded conversation revealed that Delgado acknowledged they had captured the wrong person. Salgado responded by suggesting they release the victim but not before inflicting harm on him.

All three defendants pleaded guilty to federal extortion charges. U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood sentenced Salgado and Alejandre Jr., both residents of Chicago, to ten and a half years each in prison. Delgado received a sentence of 14 years and seven months.

Salgado became a fugitive for almost eight months after failing to appear in court but was eventually apprehended and charged with contempt of court separately.

The sentences were announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office; and Sheila G. Lyons, Special Agent-in-Charge of the DEA's Chicago Field Division. Assistance came from local law enforcement agencies including Berwyn Police Department and Chicago Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kartik K. Raman and Erika L. Csicsila emphasized the severity of the crime: “There is perhaps nothing more serious than grabbing a person off the street at gunpoint, using force and intimidation and beatings to detain them.”