2 Men Accused Of Kidnapping 3 People For Ransom From Car Dealership

SKOKIE, IL — Two men are being held without bail in connection with allegations that they kidnapped and robbed three people at gunpoint from a Des Plaines car dealership.

While holding the victims hostage at a home in Woodstock, some of the team of up to 10 kidnappers burglarized one victim's River North apartment, while other kidnappers remained in the McHenry County house and tortured the victims, authorities said.

George Athanasokos began planning the kidnapping in early January and discussed surveillance of the two victims who run the Des Plaines dealership together, prosecutors said.

Both Athanasokos, 24, and his co-defendant, Brandon Bratcher, 27, have been charged with three counts of aggravated kidnapping and three counts of armed robbery, records show. Bratcher is also charged with the residential burglary of the LaSalle Street apartment.

On the evening of Feb. 10, about six to 10 people wearing ski masks and armed with rifles and other guns came into the dealership on Northwest Highway, forced two of the victims into an office, bound their hands, covered their heads, took their phones and beat them, according to prosecutors.

The third victim, an employee of the exotic car dealership, was found in another area of the shop and taken to the victim with his two bosses.

The victims told their kidnappers where to find about $5,000 cash at the dealership, but their attackers demanded more. They took several for-sale cars, forced the three victims into the back of a van and drove to the Woodstock house, according to Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mary McMahon.

When one of the victims had a seizure and lost consciousness due to a medical condition, one of the kidnappers burned his ears with what is believed to have been a lighter. Once at the Woodstock house, the kidnappers also burned the genitalia of two of the victims.

The victims were held captive for about 10 hours, suffering extensive beatings and other forms of torture. The dealership employee spent several hours held captive in the van outside the Woodstock house while the other two were being beaten. Eventually, he was taken inside, and the kidnappers threatened to mutilate his genitalia if he did not help them find money before beating him as well.

Three of the kidnapping crew went to the victim's apartment building and made a FaceTime call to another victim, forcing her to explain where the dealership owner kept the titles to cars, prosecutors said. After spending about 30 minutes in the apartment, they left with the titles, clothes, a gaming computer, jewelry and unique figurines.

According to prosecutors, Athanasokos' mask slipped while at the Woodstock home and the victim recognized him from prior business dealings. The dealership employee spotted Bratcher unmasked and with the other kidnappers.

At one point, the kidnappers said they would let everyone go if one of the victims provided $50,000. She told them she did not have that much, and they responded by torturing her and threatening to sexually assault and kill her, prosecutors said.

"Ultimately, the offenders demanded that [the dealership owner] pay the offenders a total of $2 million in installments, with the first payment of $100,000 due the evening of Feb. 11," McMahon said Thursday at Bratcher's initial court appearance. "The offenders threatened to kill [his] mother and son if he called the police."

The victims were returned to the dealership around 5:45 a.m. on Feb. 11, with the kidnappers leaving in a Dodge Challenge, a Maserati and a McClaren, according to prosecutors. Police found discarded duct tape and a bloody towel at the ransacked dealership, and investigators later tracked down the Woodstock home and found blood and duct tape there.

Athanasakos was arrested during a Feb. 16 traffic stop in Glenview, from which two backseat passengers escaped on foot. Items stolen from the River North apartment were found in his car, and police recovered and searched his cell phone, according to prosecutors.

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Evidence from the phone shows Athanasakos was communicating via text message with his co-offenders before, during and after the kidnapping, making references to taking a victim to the Woodstock house.

His cell phone's location information is also consistent with being at the dealership, the victim's house and the Woodstock location, prosecutors alleged as they sought both men ordered held without bail.

At the time of the kidnapping, Athanasakos had been wanted on a warrant for a probation violation stemming from a conviction for possession of a controlled substance, prosecutors said.

Bratcher was arrested Wednesday in Arlington Heights. At the time of his arrest, he was on probation for aggravated battery to a police office in connection with a 2021 arrest.

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Des Plaines police have not publicly disclosed the incident or arrests. In response to an inquiry from Patch, police declined to provide basic information about the arrestees on Thursday, but pledged to do so in a news release on Friday.

Athanasakos has been ordered held without bail by a judge, who found that prosecutors had provided strong evidence that he is guilty and must be detained while awaiting trial to assure the safety of complaining witnesses or the community.

Bratcher is being held without bail pending a hearing on prosecutors' motion to have him ordered without bail, which he postponed to allow for time to hire a private attorney. Both men are due back in court Tuesday in Skokie.