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Johnathan Wright, age 34, of Lindenhurst, was found guilty of assault, witness tampering, and more than three dozen other charges in Suffolk County Court on Thursday, March 28.
Prosecutors said Wright was staying at a Ronkonkoma hotel with two women, one of whom suffered from mental disabilities, on July 21, 2021. He became enraged when the women fell asleep while giving him a back massage.
Wright choked and punched the victims in their faces and bodies and attempted to push them out of the hotel window, according to investigators. He then forced them to strip naked and tied them together using a belt.
While the women were restrained, Wright held a hot iron to their skin and repeatedly burned them all over their bodies, prosecutors said. Throughout the ordeal, he warned them not to scream and threatened that the burning would get worse if they made noise.
The torture continued off and on for three to four hours before Wright ordered the women to take a shower while he went to sleep on the hotel bed.
According to investigators, Wright forbade the victims from getting medical treatment for their burns or reporting the attack to police for weeks afterward. He "treated" their wounds himself using paper towels.
One of the victims reported the abuse after returning home in August 2021. Following Wright’s arrest, he was recorded on a jailhouse phone call bribing and threatening the women and their families in an effort to stop them from cooperating in the case.
In court Thursday, jurors convicted Wright of the following:
- Four counts of assault (felony)
- Endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person (felony)
- Bribing a witness (felony)
- Seven counts of tampering with a witness (felony and misdemeanor)
- Thirty-three counts of criminal contempt (felony and misdemeanor)
He faces up to 50 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Tuesday, April 30.
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