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The victim was grabbed from behind last Thursday night by his abductors, who “covered his head, bound him with plastic restraints, assaulted him and put him into a vehicle,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
They then drove him to a city residence where they “continued to beat him with a hard object the victim could not see,” she said.
“After several hours, the kidnappers removed the head covering and took photographs and video footage of the bloodied and beaten victim with the victim’s cell phone,” Honig said.
They sent those images to his family and threatened to kill him if they didn’t pay up, she said.
FBI agents, working with law enforcement officers from New Jersey and New York, captured the four assailants and rescued the victim early Saturday, Honig said.
He was taken to Cooper University Hospital for medical treatment, the U.S. attorney said.
Honig identified the defendants as Welber Antonio Jesus, 24, and Yoandry Rodriguez, 21, both of Camden; Melvin Severino, 25, of Scranton, PA; and Cesar Alexander Batista Alcantara, 23, of Yonkers, NY.
All are charged with kidnapping.
Honig credited special agents of the FBI, Camden County police, NYPD detectives and the Camden County Sherriff’s Office. Handling the game for the government is Molly S. Lorber, the attorney in charge of her Camden office.
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