A cryptocurrency investor has been arrested and charged in New York City after he allegedly tortured a man for weeks — with reports claiming he was trying to obtain passwords related to cryptocurrency.
John Woeltz — a 37-year-old Kentucky man — was arrested Friday after a 28-year-old man allegedly escaped a house in the city’s SoHo neighborhood. NYPD tells TMZ he told a police officer he’d been held captive and tortured for weeks.
According to reports … Woeltz allegedly lured the man — who is believed to have had prior business dealings with Woeltz — to a house on May 6.
Once there, the prosecutors claim Woeltz took his passport, tied him up with electric cords, and tortured him over the two weeks in an effort to get his Bitcoin password.
TMZ.com
Among the alleged torture methods … the alleged victim was forced to take cocaine, hit with a pistol, subjected to tasering while his feet were underwater, threatened with an electric chainsaw and hung off a ledge inside the home. The alleged victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Woeltz was arrested while wearing a bathrobe — he was seen later leaving the police precinct in a white T-shirt. A 24-year-old woman was also reportedly arrested in connection to the alleged crimes, though cops could not confirm it.
According to NYPD, Woeltz was charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree unlawful imprisonment, second-degree assault, and criminal possession of a weapon.
He appeared in court Saturday where a judge ordered he would be held without bail, and his passport was confiscated.
