Sanford, N.C. — Lee County deputies have charged five people in an alleged plot to kidnap and kill a Sanford man on New Year's Day, authorities said Thursday.

David Cedillo, 50, told authorities that he was at the home of his girlfriend, Mary Grace Sisk, and discovered that his wallet and cellphone had been stolen while he was taking a shower. He said that, when he confronted Sisk, her daughter, Amber Nicole Duprey, and three of Duprey's friends about the theft, the three men choked him until he blacked out.

Authorities said Cedillo awakened in the trunk of his Honda Accord and was able to escape the vehicle at a stoplight near the intersection of U.S. Highway 421 and N.C. Highway 87 in Sanford. He then called for help.

Investigators said they determined that Sisk and Duprey concocted a plan to rob Cedillo, lock him in his car's trunk and drive the car into a body of water and that they hired three of Duprey's friends to carry out the scheme.

Sisk, 45, and Duprey, 21, both of 65 Sidney Lane; Daniel Thomas Rubinosky, 20, of 8605 Harrington Place; Andrew Gray Coker, 16, of 3048 Corn Silk Drive; and Zachary Scott Place, 17, of 5808 Minter Ave., all of Sanford, have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit common law robbery, first-degree kidnapping, common law robbery, possession of stolen goods, larceny of a motor vehicle and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Rubinosky was being held Thursday in the Lee County jail under a $300,000 bond. Duprey, Coker and Place were being held under $200,000 bonds, and Sisk was being held under a $175,000 bond.