Six felony charges, including attempted murder, were filed against two men after police rescued a man who had been bound, beaten and dumped into the trunk of a car.

Authorities say Luis Ceron, 42, and Joel Pacheco-Ortega, 26, were seeking revenge over stolen property. They were charged in 3rd District Court with attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping, both first-degree felonies, and multiple drug charges.

Federal prosecutors have also gone after Ceron, with the U.S. attorney for Utah filing heroin and cocaine distribution and weapons charges against him, accusing the Salt Lake man of involvement in a drug trafficking ring that was operating out of an auto repair shop at 344 W. Paxton Ave. (1180 South).

The shop had been under surveillance by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration since early 2008, DEA agent Jeffery Ryan wrote in an affidavit filed with the federal charges that paints a picture of betrayal in the drug world.

On Oct. 1, DEA agents got information that a man was being held captive inside the shop and that he was severely beaten and was going to be killed. The Salt Lake City Police Department's SWAT team rescued the man, whom Ryan wrote was bound and gagged with duct tape and rope in the trunk of a car. Ceron and Ortega were arrested alongside a pair of 17-year-old boys in connection with the case.

Ryan wrote that the victim admitted purchasing cocaine from Ceron, and that he also admitted to stealing from the man two separate times. When he arrived to buy more cocaine, he was beaten with a metal pipe by one of the other suspects, while Ceron repeatedly hit him in the head with a pistol and told him he was going to die.

"The victim also said he was shocked with a Taser and had a chemical spray such as mace sprayed in his eyes numerous times by the individuals during the beating," Ryan wrote.

The victim promised to return stolen computers, but Ryan said Ceron replied it was too late and he was going to die. Salt Lake City police have said if they didn't act as quickly as they did to the tip, the man would have been dead.

He has since been released from the hospital and is back home, according to police.

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com; jdana@desnews.com