A cryptocurrency investor from Kentucky is suspected of torturing an Italian vacationer with a chainsaw in a sadistic, weeks-long extortion try at a ritzy Manhattan condominium – earlier than the captive made a daring escape, police sources mentioned.
John Woeltz, 37, was arrested after the bloodied and bruised vacationer – a 28 year-old man – broke out of the SoHo home of horrors Friday morning, ran to a police officer and mentioned he’d been held prisoner for greater than two weeks, the sources mentioned.
Cops rushed to the luxurious Prince Road pad – which Woeltz was allegedly renting for roughly $30,000 to $40,000 a month – and found a number of Polaroid images displaying the vacationer being tied up with electrical wire and tortured, together with considered one of him certain to a chair with a gun pointed at his head, in response to the sources.
Since being taken captive, the vacationer had been certain with an electrical twine, Tased whereas his ft had been put in water, pistol whipped, pressured to take cocaine and threatened to have his limbs reduce off with an electrical chainsaw, the sources mentioned.
The nightmare erupted from a dispute over cryptocurrency, through which the suspect allegedly tried to extort thousands and thousands of {dollars} from the person by unleashing a litany of horrific tortures, in response to sources.
The person was rushed to Bellevue Hospital for remedy, whereas cops arrested Woeltz, who is anticipated to face an assault cost, the sources mentioned.
Two different individuals believed to be employed by Woeltz – who’s a crypto entrepreneur and investor – had been ready to be interviewed by police, sources mentioned.
The ordeal started Might 6, when the vacationer arrived in New York Metropolis from Italy and went to fulfill Woeltz, with whom he apparently had previous enterprise dealings, in response to sources.
However when the person went to the luxury pad, the crypto bigshot snatched his passport and tied him up, sources mentioned.
The person suffered days of torture that had been documented by Polaroids – which probably had been meant for use to extort cash, both from the sufferer or his household again in Italy, in response to sources.
Police discovered the images scattered all through the blood-soaked makeshift torture chamber, together with a number of implements of terror – damaged glass, evening imaginative and prescient goggles, a bulletproof vest and a gun – in plain sight, sources mentioned.
The person had a wound on his arm that’s believed to be a reduce from the chainsaw, in response to the sources.
The sufferer additionally had an Apple AirTag put round his neck in case he tried to flee, in response to the sources.
He ultimately did make his profitable try to flee as a result of he believed Friday was the day he can be killed, sources mentioned.
Ciaran Tully, a photographer who sells his work throughout the road from the constructing, mentioned he noticed Woeltz, clad in a gown and handcuffs getting arrested.
“That is positively the strangest factor I’ve seen in my time right here,” he mentioned. “Usually, this can be a fairly quiet block.”
A jewellery vendor who wished to be unnamed mentioned he acquired a “bizarre vibe” from the “crypto guys” who just lately moved in.
“I knew there was one thing bizarre happening, I simply assumed they had been capturing porn or one thing,” he mentioned. “I couldn’t have guessed all this.”
Woeltz was being held within the NYPD’s fifth Precinct Friday awaiting costs.
The NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit searched the premises to verify their had been no different torture victims, the sources mentioned.
