A cryptocurrency investor from Kentucky, who has been charged with kidnapping and torturing an Italian businessman to forcefully obtain his Bitcoin password, was denied bail by a Manhattan judge on Saturday.
John Woeltz is facing serious charges including first-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, second-degree assault, and possessing a weapon criminally. These allegations relate to a reported two-week-long detainment in Soho.
The judge in Manhattan Criminal Court approved the request from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to keep Woeltz, 37, held without the possibility of bail. Additionally, Woeltz is required to surrender his passport, as stated by authorities.
The victim, 28, broke out of the house of horrors Friday morning and reported his sick abuse and imprisonment to a police officer, law enforcement sources said.
Several Polaroids at the luxurious Prince Street pad – which Woeltz was allegedly renting for $30,000 to $40,000 a month – showed the victim being tied up with electrical wire and tortured, as well as one of him bound to a chair with a gun pointed at his head, the sources said.
He was also tased while his feet were put in water, pistol-whipped, forced to take cocaine and threatened to have his limbs chopped off with an electric chainsaw while being held captive, according to the sources.
First-degree kidnapping is a felony in New York and can carry a sentence of up to 25 years behind bars.
This is a developing story.
