(NEW YORK) — A second suspect in the alleged kidnapping and torture of an Italian man in a luxury New York City apartment surrendered on Tuesday, police sources told ABC News.
Like co-defendant John Woeltz, the second suspect is expected to face charges of kidnapping, assault and unlawful imprisonment, the sources said. The man turned himself in at the NYPD’s 13th Precinct, according to the sources.
He has not yet been named by law enforcement.
Woeltz, a crypto entrepreneur, was arrested Friday after a tourist from Italy told police he was tortured in the suspect’s SoHo apartment for more than two weeks, according to police.
The alleged 28-year-old victim told police he arrived in New York from Italy on May 6 and went to Woeltz’s home. Woeltz allegedly took the man’s passport, police said.
The alleged victim told police that Woeltz, 38, and another person beat him, used electric shock and hanged him off a ledge after he refused to provide his bitcoin password, according to the criminal complaint.
The alleged victim was able to escape Friday morning, running to a traffic enforcement officer for help, and was taken to the hospital, police said.
When police responded to the home, they found multiple Polaroid pictures of the alleged victim being tied up and tortured in Woeltz’s apartment, as well as multiple torture items in view, according to police sources.
A gun was recovered in the home, police said.
Woeltz did not make any comments to reporters as he was escorted out of his apartment by police in handcuffs last week. He was held without bail on charges of kidnapping, assault and unlawful imprisonment during his initial appearance in court Saturday. He did not enter a plea.
Woeltz is next due in court Wednesday. His attorney had no comment on the case following Woeltz’s arrest.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserv eged threat to release a sex tape of her daughter.
“The threats that have been made towards me by Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs are that … he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me,” Ventura wrote in an email to her mother and Combs’ assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011. Jurors saw the email when Cassie Ventura testified.
“I was physically sick. I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me. I did not know [Combs] but I knew that he was going to try to hurt my daughter,” she told jurors.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband decided to take out a loan so they could send Combs the $20,000 he demanded, though he ultimately returned the money. She also testified that she took photographs of the injuries her daughter allegedly suffered from Combs so that they would have a record of the alleged abuse.
Approximately 15 years after she documented the injuries, prosecutors last week showed the photos to the jury to underscore Cassie Ventura’s testimony about the violence she suffered at Combs’ hands.
Sharay Hayes, male escort
Known professionally as The Punisher – a nickname based on his style of playing basketball – male escort Sharay Hayes told the jury that he was hired about a dozen times by Combs and Ventura.
He said he first met Combs and Cassie Ventura in 2012, when he was hired to help create a “sexy erotic scene” for what, Ventura said, was Combs’ birthday. He testified that Ventura instructed him to come to Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West in Manhattan to perform a strip act. When he arrived, Ventura asked him to cover her in baby oil while Combs watched, Hayes said.
“I was specifically told to … try not to look at him, no communication or anything between me and him,” he said. “The room was very dimly lit. … All of the furniture was covered in sheets and there was an area pretty much set up for me to sit and her to sit across from me, and there were little bowls in the area with baby oil in them.”
Hayes told jurors that Combs was nude for the encounter and wore a veil, occasionally masturbating during the interaction and offering “subtle directions” to Ventura.
After their first interaction, Hayes said he worked for the couple up to 12 more times, receiving $1,200 to $2,000 on each occasion.
Cross-examined by Combs’ lawyers, Hayes testified that he believed Ventura sometimes flinched during some of Combs’ directives but otherwise appeared comfortable during the exchanges, potentially undercutting the argument she was coerced to participate. The question of whether Ventura was forced or participated voluntarily is one of the most critical issues in the case against Combs.
Gerald Gannon, federal agent
Gerald Gannon, a special agent from United States Homeland Security Investigations, walked the jury through some of the evidence that he said was recovered from the rap star’s home on the exclusive Miami Beach enclave of Star Island.
Gannon testified that federal agents recovered the parts of two AR-15 assault-style rifles with defaced serial numbers only feet from where Combs allegedly stored materials for freak-offs — including baby oil, lingerie, platform heels and sex toys. Prosecutors have argued that the threat of violence allowed Combs to coerce his alleged victims to participate in freak-offs.
Holding parts of the weapons in court for the jury to see, Gannon testified that investigators recovered a fully-loaded handgun in a piece of luggage found in Combs’ residence.
Jurors also saw the trove of drugs allegedly found in Combs’ residence, including a variety of pills, marijuana, powders and other drugs that prosecutors have alleged were used to make women compliant during freak-offs and would allow them to perform long past the point of exhaustion.
Dawn Hughes, expert witness
Psychologist Dawn Hughes was called by prosecutors to explain to the jury that many people opt to stay in abusive relationships because they feel trapped or form an “intense psychological bond” that draws them to their abuser.
“It’s hard for us to break up with someone under the best of circumstances,” Hughes said. “When you have all this violence and abuse, you’re just trying to live day to day in this very micro way.” She explained that oftentimes victims’ emotional strength becomes devoted to avoiding beatings instead of plotting a way out of an abusive relationship.
While Hughes as an expert witness was not allowed to directly analyze Combs’ relationship with Ventura, she offered indirect context for some of the topics Ventura touched on during her testimony. If victims are able to escape an abusive relationship, Hughes told the jury, they often return, as Ventura testified that she did repeatedly with Combs.
Hughes also said that victims often adopt passive self-defense mechanisms that don’t provoke their abusers, such as “curling up in a ball.” Earlier witnesses Dawn Richard and Kerry Morgan both testified that they saw Ventura drop into a fetal position during beatings they said they witnessed Combs inflicting.
George Kaplan, former personal assistant
Testifying under an immunity deal so that he cannot be prosecuted for anything he admits to, Combs’ former assistant George Kaplan told jurors he quit his job after 15 months because he could no longer continue “fixing” problems for Combs after the mogul’s repeated acts of violence.
Kaplan testified that he saw Combs become violent on three occasions, including one episode when he was summoned to Combs’ bedroom only to find Ventura crying and bruised in bed. He also testified seeing Combs holding a whisky glass over Ventura’s head during a flight to Las Vegas and another instance in 2015 when a “very angry” Combs threw apples at another one of his girlfriends.
“In my heart of hearts I knew what was happening and I felt an element of guilt that I didn’t do anything to stop it,” he told jurors about why he stopped working for Combs.
Kaplan also told jurors about the process of setting up and cleaning hotel rooms for the rap mogul. He testified that he often was given only a few hours’ notice to set up a room and came prepared with a “hotel bag” filled with what were essentials for Combs: candles, baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, an audio speaker and extra clothing. He also said that he would be tasked with cleaning the rooms after Combs was done because he was concerned that if hotel staff had cleaned the rooms immediately after Combs left, they might try to sell videos of images of the aftermath of a freak-off.
Scott Mescudi, musician and actor
Kid Cudi – whose legal name is Scott Mescudi – told jurors that his brief relationship with Cassie Ventura was marked by violent threats from Combs that prompted him and Ventura to stop seeing one another. He told jurors that he suspected Combs allegedly broke into his home and coordinated the firebombing of his high-end sports car.
After starting a romance with the singer and model who was involved with Combs on and off for years, Mescudi said he received an abrupt phone call from Ventura to warn that Combs had learned they were seeing each other. He said he picked up Ventura and soon received a call from Combs’ assistant informing him that Combs had broken into his home.
“I said, ‘M——-, you in my house?’ And he said, ‘What’s up?’ ‘Are you in my house? I just want to talk to you. I’m on my way over right now,'” he testified.
Mescudi said he quickly drove to his home but did not find Combs, though there were traces of his alleged visit. He said the Christmas gifts he bought for his family had been opened and his dog was locked in the bathroom. He also testified that he reported the incident to police.
Mescudi said he and Ventura eventually broke up because “things were getting out of hand” and he felt concerned for their safety.
During her testimony, Ventura said that Combs threatened to hurt her and Mescudi if their relationship continued and vowed to blow up the car of the rival rapper. Mescudi testified that he suspected Combs followed through with the threat in early 2012, telling jurors that someone had cut the soft top of his Porsche open and placed a lit Molotov cocktail inside. Jurors were shown the results of that episode when prosecutors entered into evidence multiple photos of the charred vehicle.
Defense lawyers have denied that Combs had any role in the firebombing of the vehicle.
Mylah Morales, makeup artist
Prosecutors called makeup artist Mylah Morales to testify about a 2010 incident when Combs allegedly assaulted Ventura in their hotel suite. According to Morales, Combs stormed into the room they rented at the Beverly Hills Hotel after a night out.
“Where the f— is she?” Combs allegedly shouted before he walked into the bedroom where Ventura was and closed the door, according to Morales’ testimony.
Morales said she heard “yelling and screaming” before Combs exited the hotel room. She said Ventura had a swollen eye, busted lip and “knots on her head” after the incident.
According to Morales, Ventura stayed with her for a few days to recover after the incident. Morales testified that a friend who was a doctor checked on Ventura to see if she had a concussion and suggested she visit an emergency room, according to her testimony, but Ventura allegedly said it was “her wish not to go to the ER.”
On cross-examination, Combs’ lawyers highlighted that Morales did not directly witness the alleged assault because she was outside the bedroom.
Frederick Zemmour, hotel manager
The general manager of the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills, Frederick Zemmour, said Combs frequently stayed at the hotel, and his guest profile noted some characteristics that other witnesses said were features of the drug-fueled sex parties called “freak offs” that Combs would host.
“Always spills candle wax on everything and uses excessive amounts of oil, place rooms out of order upon departure for deep cleaning,” Zemmour said, citing notes the hotel kept on Combs.
When Ventura testified last week, she said Combs often booked rooms at L’Ermitage Beverly Hills to host freak-offs. She recounted one instance when Combs allegedly requested she get into a blowup pool that was filled with “lube and oil.”
Joshua Croft, special agent
Joshua Croft, a special agent from Homeland Security Investigations, briefly testified about the process for examining some of the electronic devices recovered during the investigation into Combs.
He told the jury that he conducted computer extractions from three laptops that belonged to Cassie Ventura. One of the laptops included a user profile for Frank Black, an alias used by Sean Combs, he said.
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