Two individuals had been arrested in New York Metropolis on Friday for the kidnapping and torture of a vacationer from Italy, in keeping with police. John Woeltz, 37, was barefoot and wearing a white bathrobe as he was escorted by NYPD officers down the steps of a house at 38 Prince St. in SoHo. He was …
Two individuals had been arrested in New York Metropolis on Friday for the kidnapping and torture of a vacationer from Italy, in keeping with police.
John Woeltz, 37, was barefoot and wearing a white bathrobe as he was escorted by NYPD officers down the steps of a house at 38 Prince St. in SoHo. He was questioned on the fifth Precinct and later charged with two counts of second-degree assault, and one rely every of first-degree kidnapping, first-degree illegal imprisonment, and prison possession of a firearm.
Woeltz, who was arraigned on Saturday, is taken into account a flight threat and was ordered to remain behind bars and to give up his passport.
Police on Saturday introduced a second individual was arrested within the case. Beatrice Folchi, 24, of Manhattan, was charged with kidnapping and illegal imprisonment. Police didn’t present any details about her relationship to Woeltz or function within the alleged crimes.
After Woeltz’s arraignment, the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace issued an announcement saying it declined to prosecute Folchi on the time “pending additional investigation.”
The NYPD says the 28-year-old sufferer arrived in New York from Italy on Might 6 after which went to the suspect’s dwelling in SoHo. In line with courtroom paperwork, he was tied up after which tortured for 3 weeks. The sufferer managed to flee on Friday and flagged down a close-by site visitors agent, who referred to as police.
Woeltz is accused of repeatedly stunning the sufferer with electrical wires, slicing his leg with a noticed, and forcing him to smoke crack cocaine.
In line with the Manhattan District Legal professional’s Workplace, proof recovered from the scene contains t-shirts of the sufferer with a crack cocaine pipe in his mouth, and Polaroid images of a gun pointed at his head.
Prosecutors say at one level Woeltz and the opposite particular person hung the sufferer over the ledge on the high of the steps whereas threatening to kill him if he did not hand over his Bitcoin password.
The sufferer instructed police the suspect took his electronics and passport, hid them, and threatened to kill his household. The sufferer managed to flee after agreeing to surrender his password out of concern that he was about to be killed.
Authorities say as soon as the suspect left to get the laptop computer, the sufferer, barefoot, bloodied and traumatized, ran exterior for assist. Investigators say there have been two butlers on the residence who would even be interviewed.
Woeltz is a crypto investor initially from Kentucky who rents an house within the dwelling for between $30,000 and $40,000 per 30 days.
Native residents mentioned they had been perplexed by the alleged assault, with one witness saying it was a really chaotic crime scene.
“We noticed police working this manner after which there was simply a whole lot of screaming,” Molli Sramowicz mentioned. “Police with their weapons out, then the SWAT workforce got here in, then a hearth truck.”
“He did not look distressed in any respect, however that would’ve been as a result of he was on the road,” Cairan Tully mentioned.
“I simply cannot consider stuff like this could occur in 2025 in New York of all place. That is our borough, our neighborhood. We simply should … we now have to watch out,” added Kareem Hakemy of Midtown.
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