A kidnapping victim rescued in central Illinois was taken from his family 14 years ago, police said Monday.
A man was arrested Friday night after police were alerted to a kidnapping scheme involving at least one adult victim, according to the University of Illinois Police Department.
Police said 27-year old Felipe De Jesus Guevara Sanchez, of New York, was arrested for aggravated kidnapping and forcible detention.
Guevara Sanchez is alleged to have demanded that parents of the victim, who live in Chicago, pay a ransom for his release after he was brought back into the U.S. from Mexico. They continued asking for money, the victim’s mother said, even after she had wired over $7,000.
University of Illinois Police learned Friday afternoon that a meeting to exchange custody of the 25-year-old victim for money was to occur in the early evening at a Circle K in the 1800 block of North Cunningham Avenue in Urbana. Investigators went to that location and waited for the offender to arrive.
Police reported finding the victim in a van with six other people and the suspect. The others are suspected victims and are in protective custody. None of them were found to be physically injured.
Sanchez is being held at the Champaign County Jail.