A man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, after pleading guilty to kidnapping a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier after she stopped to get gas in the Little Village neighborhood in 2022.

Cesar Ramirez, 47, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of aggravated kidnapping. Cook County Judge John Lyke sentenced him to 15 years in prison, and three years of supervised release. He will get credit for the nearly three years he's already spent behind bars.

Chicago police have said a postal worker was getting gas at a gas station in Little Village around 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 22, 2022, when Ramirez sneaked into the back of her truck, and ambushed her when she got back in the vehicle.

Ramirez grabbed her by the hair, and told her to drive to a nearby parking lot or he would kill her, according to prosecutors. Police said he then told her to move to the back of the van and removed her clothing. As she was attempting to escape through the rear of the van, he tried to beat her and removed a portion of her clothing, police said. 

The 28-year-old woman was able to escape, and Ramirez fled the scene in the postal truck.

Police found the truck a short time later in the Clearing neighborhood near Midway International Airport, but Ramirez was gone. Prosecutors said his car was found at the gas station where the postal worker had been kidnapped, with mail with his name and address on it in plain view on the car's floorboards.

Investigators later released surveillance images of Ramirez, and three relatives of his helped police identify him, and he was arrested on Oct. 26, 2022.

Ramirez had eight previous arrests, and two prior convictions, including a 2001 home invasion and attempted criminal sexual assault. Ramirez is also a registered sex offender, according to prosecutors.

The video above is from an earlier report.