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Fa Deng, 42, of Staten Island, New York, and Albert Ferrelli, 50, and Chiahao Lee, 30, both of Queens, New York, are charged with conspiring to commit kidnapping. The three men appeared before a judge in Newark federal court Thursday and were detained.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of New Jersey:
On April 5th, the suspects drove to the victim’s home in Fort Lee, NJ, and entered wearing masks. They bound the victim’s hands, placed duct tape over his eyes and mouth, and forced the victim into a vehicle.
Police later received information that the kidnappers had sent the victim’s wife a photograph of the victim bound and duct-taped, demanding a ransom of ~$680,000.
When police responded to the victim’s home and scene of the crime, they discovered remnants of the duct tape and latex gloves.
Officers then reviewed local surveillance footage and identified the suspects’ vehicle, a gray minivan, and were able to track the vehicle crossing the George Washington Bridge and subsequently crossing into the Bronx and then into Queens.
The following day, New York Police Department personnel responded to Prince Street in Queens, where officers found Ferrelli guarding the door to a building. On approaching Ferrelli, officers heard a man screaming for help inside the building.
Police entered the building and found the victim with his hands bound and duct tape over his eyes and mouth.
Surveillance footage obtained by police showed that during the kidnapping and following captivity, the victim attempted to escape by running out of the building where he was eventually found. The video footage shows Ferrelli tackle the victim, struggle in a fight, and eventually drag the victim back into the building.
Law enforcement located the gray minivan used in the kidnapping parked in the driveway of Lee’s home in Queens. Records showed that the minivan had been rented by Lee’s wife at LaGuardia Airport on April 4, 2022.
The maximum penalty for this offense is life imprisonment.
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