MONTERREY, Mexico – The former goalkeeper for the Rayados, the city's First Division team, is accused of being a member of a kidnapping ring that targeted wealthy victims, state authorities announced.

Omar Ortiz, nicknamed "El Gato" (the cat), 35, had disappeared on Wednesday and local press reports suggested that he might have been kidnapped.

It's unclear when Ortiz was arrested. The Nuevo León Attorney General's Office presented him to the media in Monterrey on Saturday night and announced the charges against him.

According to the department's spokesman, Jorge Domene, Ortiz had admitted to being involved in two kidnappings for which he received more than 100,000 pesos each (around $7,300).

The spokesman said that the ring was believed responsible for some 20 kidnappings, demanding an average ransom of one million pesos (about $73,000). Local press reports said that one of the victims had been the husband of entertainer Gloria Trevi, who was kidnapped in October but quickly freed.

Domene said that the some ring members were captured on Wednesday, and that they identified Ortiz as an accomplice.

Ortiz provided information about potential kidnapping targets "based on the social circles that he traveled in," the spokesman said.

The player was suspended from the Rayados last April when he tested positive for steroids. The suspension was to end in April.

Monterrey, Mexico's third largest city, has been the setting for a vicious turf war among rival drug-trafficking organizations.

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