Two men charged after Des Plaines auto dealership staffers were kidnapped, beaten, tortured
DES PLAINES, Ill. (CBS) -- Two men were charged Friday with kidnapping and torturing three staffers from a Des Plaines auto dealership.
George Athanasakos, 24, of Wood Dale, and Brandon Bratcher, 27, of Hanover Park, are each charged with three counts of kidnapping and armed robbery.
Bratcher was also charged with one count of residential burglary.
On Feb. 11, the two men who owned the car dealership at 622 E. Northwest Hwy. and a woman who worked for them reported they were all kidnapped from the dealership the evening before - and were beaten and tortured at a different site before being returned to the dealership several hours later, police said.
The victims said several attackers were involved, and they were trying to embezzle money, police said.
Des Plaines police learned Athanasakos and Bratcher knew the victims through prior dealings involving buying and refurbishing vehicles. Bratcher was at the dealership with the victims on Feb. 10 when several masked intruders with rifles and handguns stormed in, police said.
The intruders robbed the victims of their personal belongings, and then bound their hands and feet, covered their heads, and shoved them into a vehicle, police said.
The victims were then driven to another location – where they were beaten repeatedly, burned with a hot metal object, and restrained all night until the early morning hours, police said.
The victims were taken back to the dealership in the morning, but were told they had to pay the offenders a substantial sum of money – and were threatened with more violence if they did not pay up, police said.
One of the victims identified both Athanasakos and Bratcher as being involved, police said.
Athanasakos was arrested Feb. 16 in Palatine, while Bratcher was arrested on Wednesday in Arlington Heights. Both are being held without bond, police said.
