Associated Press - October 27, 2009 10:24 AM ET

PHOENIX (AP) - An illegal immigrant has been sentenced to 27 years in prison in connection with a violent kidnapping of a man from the parking lot of a Phoenix grocery store.

Maricopa County prosecutors say 24-year-old Noe Mendoza-Tapia pleaded guilty to 1 of 3 counts against him - misconduct involving weapons - on the first day of his trial and he was later convicted of kidnapping and theft by extortion.

Mendoza-Tapia, who told police that he illegally entered the U.S. three years ago, was sentenced last Friday.

Prosecutors say Mendoza-Tapia and two other defendants held the victim hostage in October 2007 and threatened to kill him if the victim's wife did not pay $100,000.

Undercover detectives found and arrested the three suspects and rescued the victim, who was bound and blindfolded inside the bedroom of a house.

The two other defendants pleaded guilty in the case and been sentenced to prison.

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