An Italian tourist was chained up, electrocuted, and taunted with a chainsaw for weeks inside a lavish SoHo apartment by a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, it’s been revealed.
John Woeltz, 37, was arrested in New York on Friday after the unnamed tourist escaped the house of horrors and informed a police officer that he had been kidnapped and tortured for weeks.
Kentucky-born Woeltz was allegedly part of a group that concocted a sadistic scheme to lure the tourist to New York so they could access his crypto account.
Police said the victim was tied up with electrical cords and electrocuted as Woeltz attempted to gain access to his passwords, reports the New York Post.
The victim, a 28-year-old man, was then tasered with his feet in the water and pistol-whipped.
The alleged kidnappers even had a chainsaw and threatened to cut the victim’s legs off if he didn’t reveal his passwords to his crypto accounts.
In addition to the disturbing physical torture, Woeltz and his associates are accused of forcing the victim to take cocaine.
They documented the bone-chilling acts using a Polaroid camera. Police uncovered the photographs in the house of horrors, sources told the Post.
John Woeltz, 37, pictured with police after his shocking arrest on charges of assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a firearm
The alleged torture occurred in a massive luxury townhouse in SoHo, a posh New York City neighborhood
Woeltz is accused of luring the Italian tourist to New York and torturing him in the SoHo apartment for weeks
One Polaroid photograph depicted the victim tied to a chair with a gun to his head. Police believe the pictures were taken to extort the victim’s family.
Police also discovered broken glass, night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, and a gun.
Investigators said the victim met Woeltz on May 6, and the two had prior business dealings with one another.
Woeltz then led the man back to his luxury townhouse in SoHo, where he allegedly snatched his passport and held him captive.
The victim told police that he escaped the house of horrors on Friday after his captors allegedly warned they were planning on killing him later that day.
He flagged down a nearby police officer, and Woeltz was subsequently arrested barefoot in his bathrobe.
The victim was transported to a local hospital with cuts and injuries he sustained from the torture.
Jennifer Crawford, an eyewitness to the arrest, told local ABC affiliate, WABC, ‘I saw the SWAT team with shields and then shortly after that, I saw a guy in handcuffs come out.’
Woeltz and others in the apartment allegedly chained up the tourist, taunted him with a chainsaw, and forced him to do cocaine
The alleged torture took place for weeks in the beautiful SoHo home. The apartment was most recently listed for $75,000 a month
Woeltz is a crypto entrepreneur and investor from Kentucky. He was renting the home in SoHo before his shocking arrest
A sidewalk vendor who sells his art on Prince Street, where Woeltz was renting the home, told WABC, ‘I’ve seen people go in and out all the time and never really ever saw the same person twice. So we were wondering like what was going on in there?’
A jewelry vendor on the block told the New York Post, ‘I knew there was something weird going on, I just assumed they were shooting porn or something. I couldn’t have guessed all this.’
Woeltz is a crypto entrepreneur and investor from Kentucky and was renting the luxurious 8-bedroom 10-bathroom home on Prince Street. The listing was most recently rented for $75,000.
A woman named Beatrice Folchi, 24, was also arrested in connection with the kidnapping, the NYPD confirmed.
Two other individuals believed to have worked for Woeltz were also interviewed by police, but no other arrests have been made.