Second suspect arrested in SoHo cryptocurrency kidnapping torture plot
The new suspect surrendered to detectives at the 13th Precinct stationhouse and is being questioned with charges pending.
Police believe the new suspect helped cryptocurrency trader John Woeltz, 37, imprison and torture the 28-year-old victim for 17 days. The victim came to the U.S. to visit Woeltz's chic townhouse on Prince and Mulberry Sts.
Woeltz was arrested Friday shortly after the victim managed to escape and flag down a traffic enforcement agent, who contacted police. Dressed in a plush robe, Woeltz was hauled down to the 13th Precinct stationhouse barefoot, where he was charged with assault and kidnapping. He was ordered held without bail following his arraignment Saturday.
As soon as their victim arrived at the townhouse, Woeltz and his accomplice took his passport and electronics and told him he couldn't leave, police said.
The two bound their victim's wrists and over the next three weeks subjected him to 'beatings including but not limited to the use of electric wires to shock him, using a firearm to hit him on the head, and pointing the firearm at his head on several occasions,' prosecutors said at Woeltz's arraignment Saturday. '[They] used a saw to cut his leg, urinated on the victim, forced him to smoke crack cocaine by holding him down and forcing it into his mouth.'
The duo also 'tied an airtag around his neck with a chain or wire,' Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Michael Mattson said. 'They [said they] would kill his family and they would find the victim if he left.'
After apprehending Woeltz, cops found disturbing Polaroid photos of him and his accomplice torturing their victim and holding a gun to his head.
Some time during the victim's capture, Woeltz and his accomplice managed to get printed T-shirts of the victim smoking crack. The shirts were found in the home, along with body armor, night vision goggles, ammunition and ballistic helmets, officials said.
On Friday morning, Woeltz 'carried the victim to the top flight of stairs in the townhouse and hung the victim over the ledge as the defendant threatened to kill the victim if the victim would not provide the defendant with the victim's bitcoin password,' Mattson said.
After being pistol-whipped once again, the victim finally consented but said he needed a laptop to retrieve the password, the prosecutor said.
'When the defendant left the victim to retrieve the victim's laptop, the victim was able to escape down the stairs,' Mattson said. 'The victim was bloodied and had no shoes on.'
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was treated and released.
Woeltz is facing 15 years to life if convicted.
Woeltz has been featured as a speaker at several cryptocurrency conferences and has 'nearly a decade of experience with technology startups in Silicon Valley,' according to online profiles.
Woeltz's mother Joan Woeltz said her son was an early believer of cryptocurrency and 'had been mining Bitcoin from the age of 12.'
During his travels in the crypto world, he had been taken in and corrupted by another cryptocurrency trader who systematically isolated him from his family and may have been the mastermind of this scheme, the mother claimed.
'We've been concerned about this person entering his life and kind of controlling it,' she said in an exclusive interview with The News. 'My family and I have been concerned for some time for John's well being and what influence he was under with these people.'
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