NEW YORK CITY, NY - Authorities have confirmed that two New York City Police Department (NYPD) detectives were placed on modified duty after the department learned that they had a prior connection to a Manhattan townhouse where an Italian businessman was allegedly held captive and tortured for several days.
One off-duty detective drove the alleged victim from the airport to the SoHo townhouse on May 6th, according to ABC News. The detective is a 20-year veteran and was assigned to the NYPD's Executive Protection Unit, which handles the mayor's security. He has been on that unit since December 2021. In that unit, he works as part of the advance team, which checks out locations before the mayor arrives.
He was working an off-duty security job, employed by one of the two crypto suspects, at the time he drove the victim to the townhouse. A second detective was also being paid by one of the suspects, apparently also as off-duty security.
NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau is looking into how long the two detectives were employed by the crypto suspect and whether the employment had been approved internally.
The police department's members, according to policy, are not permitted to work for private security without going through a strict series of approvals. City officials said that neither detective had knowledge of illegal or inappropriate behavior at the townhouse, and the mayor had no knowledge or connection to the two crypto suspects.
"Every city employee is expected to follow the law, including our officers, both on and off duty. We are disturbed by these allegations and as soon as it came to our attention, the officers were placed on modified duty. The investigation is ongoing," the City Hall explained in a statement.
A grand jury indicted, according to ABC7, a cryptocurrency investor who was charged with kidnapping and torturing a man for weeks in an upscale Manhattan townhouse in order to gain access to his Bitcoin. John Woeltz has been locked up since his arrest after the victim escaped and told police he was severely beaten, drugged, shocked with electrical wires, and dangled over a ledge by his captors.
Woeltz's alleged accomplice, William Duplessie, surrendered to police a few days later and is now awaiting his own indictment. At a hearing on Thursday, an attorney for Woeltz requested his client be released on a $2 million bond, citing his lack of criminal record, philosophy degree, and professional accomplishments.
"He's been very successful in the technology world," Attorney Wayne Gosnell told a judge. He further added that his client has "every intention to fight this case." The judge denied bail for Woeltz, who did not appear in court. Authorities have said that Woeltz and Duplessie knew the victim personally. The victim said he was held captive for 17 days, as the two investors allegedly beat and tortured him.
A search of the townhouse turned up cocaine, a saw, chicken wire, body armor, night vision goggles, ammunition, and Polaroid photos of the victim with a gun pointed to his head.
