A crypto investor is charged with kidnapping and torturing a man in an NYC apartment for weeks

NEW YORK AP A cryptocurrency investor has been arrested and charged with kidnapping a man and keeping him locked up for weeks in an upscale Manhattan apartment where executives say he was beaten shocked and led to believe that his family was in danger if he didn t give up his Bitcoin password John Woeltz of Kentucky was arrested Friday night after the victim escaped from the eight-bedroom town house and flagged down a traffic officer on the street for help according to prosecutors Woeltz was arraigned Saturday on charges of kidnapping assault unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm court records show He was ordered held without bail a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney s office approved Saturday His lawyer Wayne Gosnell noted Saturday in an email that he had no comment The -year-old victim arrived in New York City from Italy in early May a law enforcement official communicated The Associated Press The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing scrutiny and did so on condition of anonymity It s not clear how or if the two knew each other but the district attorney s office commented in an email that prosecutor Michael Mattson reported a judge Saturday that the victim whose name has not been distributed was abducted on May Mattson disclosed others were involved in the scheme to empty the victim s Bitcoin wallet That includes a person referred to in court records as an unapprehended male The victim declared he was bound by the wrists and tortured for weeks inside the apartment His captors according to prosecutors drugged him used electric wires to shock him hit him in the head with a firearm and at one point carried him to the top of a flight of stairs where they dangled him over a ledge and threatened to kill him if he didn t share his Bitcoin password Believing that he was about to be shot the victim was able to escape Friday after telling Woeltz that he would give up his password which was stored on his laptop in another room When the suspect turned his back Mattson reported the victim ran out of the apartment The victim was taken to a hospital and treated for injuries that Mattson revealed were consistent with his descriptions of being bound and assaulted A search of the town house turned up a trove of evidence Mattson reported including cocaine a saw chicken wire body armor and night vision goggles ammunition and polaroid photos of the victim with a gun pointed to his head Woeltz was ordered Saturday to surrender his passport Prosecutors commented he has the means to flee including a private jet and a helicopter He is due back in Manhattan criminal court next week Yamat communicated from Las Vegas Associated Press writers Susan Haigh in Hartford Connecticut and Becky Bohrer in Juneau Alaska contributed to this document Source