NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — Three men have been charged in connection with the violent kidnapping and robbery of an out-of-town attorney who was lured into a vehicle outside a Midtown Manhattan strip club, beaten, robbed and abandoned in New Jersey, federal prosecutors said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Dani Amanuel, Kenny Fetiere and Kibret Meles were charged in an interstate kidnapping scheme stemming from an attack that allegedly occurred between June 11 and June 12. Fetiere and Meles were arrested Tuesday, while Amanuel remains at large.
Prosecutors allege the defendants approached the victim outside Rick’s Cabaret on West 33rd Street and persuaded him to get into a vehicle by offering him a ride to his hotel. Once inside, the victim was restrained and driven from Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel and into New Jersey.
Federal prosecutors said the defendants demanded the victim’s watch and iPhone during the abduction and assaulted him with their hands and a sharp object before abandoning him in West Orange, New Jersey.
The victim suffered multiple fractures to the bones around his face, a finger laceration that required stitches and bruising, according to prosecutors. He was hospitalized for three days.
Authorities said the three defendants are each charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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