A 28-year-old man from Italy was held captive and subjected to torture for several weeks in a luxury Manhattan apartment. He managed to escape on Friday morning and sought help from a traffic enforcement officer.
According to police reports, the victim was once a business partner with several crypto entrepreneurs residing in the lavish SoHo brownstone. After a dispute, he returned to Italy. Later, these entrepreneurs allegedly deceitfully invited him back to New York on May 6 by promising new business opportunities. Upon his arrival, he was kidnapped, and the torture commenced, as noted by WABC.
One of the entrpreneurs, identifed as 37-year-old John Woeltz of Kentucky, was taken into custody, WNBC reported.
The victim informed the police that his captors seized his passport and insisted on obtaining access to his cryptocurrency account. The attackers reportedly tied him with electrical cords and subjected him to electrocution and additional shock treatments. Reports suggest they tased him while his feet were in water, struck him with a pistol, and threatened to use a chainsaw to amputate his limbs.
Investigators said they found Polaroids of the torturers doing their work, including one showing the victim bound to a chair with a gun to his head. Detectives said they believed the photographs were intended to extort money from the victim or his family in Italy.
They also forced the victim to take drugs and subjected him to a variety of psychological torture, telling him he would never escape. They even put a tracking device on his neck.
The victim made a concerted effort to escape on Friday, he said, because the men told him that was the day they would kill him.
Police found one of the kidnapping torturers upstairs, wearing a bathrobe, when they arrived. They are looking for several other men who lived at the townhouse.
The 8-bedroom, 10-bathroom townhome was rented for $30,000 to $40,000 per month, according to police, who said the inside was trashed with broken glass, helmets, night vision goggles, and a bulletproof vest. When they found a gun, they requested a search warrant for a deeper search.
The victim had numerous cuts on his body and was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
Detectives are also interviewing two butlers who were at the home working for the man they took into custody.
Formal charges for Woeltz have not been announced.
