MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A Mexican citizen has admitted to faking his own kidnapping in an attempt to get an immigrant visa.

Prosecutors say 46-year-old Alejandro Mario Cortes pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of visa fraud and one count of illegally re-entering the U.S.

According to his guilty plea, Cortes admitted that from April through August he conspired to fraudulently apply for a visa based on a false kidnapping report.

He admitted that he and a co-conspirator traveled from Chicago to Minnesota, then stayed in a storage facility for days. Cortes then asked to have his mouth and hands bound with duct tape and he was left in St. Paul, where he was found by a snowplow driver.

He has no lawful status to stay in the U.S. and had been removed previously in 2001 and in 2010.

More From AM 1240 WJON