18-year-old kidnapped, tortured in a basement until his mother paid $20,000, feds say

An 18-year-old was kidnapped and held captive in a basement where he was tortured for days after a drug deal went wrong in Delaware, officials said.

Following the failed deal on March 17, the accused kidnappers bound the victim with tape and stabbed him in the legs as they drove him through New Jersey to a home in Queens, New York, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

In the basement of the home, the 18-year-old’s ankles and wrists were bound as the accused kidnappers beat him, ran a knife along his neck, held a rag soaked in gasoline to his eyes and burned him with cigarettes over the course of a few days, the complaint says.

He was eventually let go on March 21 after his mother dropped off $20,000 in cashas a ransom payment, according to the complaint.

Now, Dennis Reyes Mora, 37, Alexander Cruz, 26, and Cindy Aleman Fernandez, 27, who are all from Brownsville, Brooklyn, are facing kidnapping charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced in a March 28 news release. They were arrested that day on the charges, court records show.

When law enforcement executed a search warrant of the home in Queens on March 27, they found traces of blood on a wall and on a green chair, the complaint says. They also discovered gasoline, duct tape and ammunition shell casings, according to the complaint.

Cruz’s attorney Michael Calabro declined a request for comment from McClatchy News on March 29. McClatchy News also contacted attorneys listed for Reyes and Aleman for comment and didn’t immediately receive a response.

Failed drug deal results in torture

The complaint details how Cruz, Reyes, Aleman and another man, who wasn’t identified in the complaint, met with the 18-year-old to discuss the drug deal near his home in Hackensack, New Jersey the evening of March 17.

Afterward, the victim was driven to the parking lot of a hotel in Newark, Delaware, where the drug deal was supposed to take place, the complaint says.

At some point, an argument started over the deal, resulting in the 18-year-old’s kidnapping and torture, according to the complaint.

The victim was led to the basement of the Queens home, with his eyes covered by tape, and was forced to sit in a green chair as his wrists and ankles were taped together, the complaint says.

While bound to the chair, he was shown rounds of ammunition and one of the men racked a gun behind his head as a threat, according to the complaint.

Aleman is accused of laughing at the torture, prosecutors said.

Accused kidnappers demand a ransom payment from the victim’s family

The 18-year-olds family in New Jersey were called by the accused kidnappers, who demanded $45,000 in exchange for his release, according to the complaint. The family then called Hackensack police about this ransom demand, the complaint says.

Shortly afterward, the victim called his family and said his accused kidnappers now wanted more money — $60,000, according to the complaint.

Ultimately, the family, with the help of law enforcement, paid $20,000 in cash to save the victim on March 21, the complaint says.

His mother delivered the money, as directed by one kidnapper, to a park in Brooklyn, according to the complaint.

Afterward, a law enforcement “air unit” followed a dark SUV from the Brooklyn park to the home in Queens where they saw the injured 18-year-old emerge from the house, the complaint says. He was put into the SUV and dropped off along the Jackie Robinson Parkway, which runs through Brooklyn and Queens, according to investigators.

The victim was treated for his stab wounds and other injuries and was interviewed about the kidnapping, the complaint says.

Before Cruz, Aleman and Reyes were arrested, they tried to remove and clean the backseat of the car they had used to drive the victim from Delaware to Queens, according to prosecutors. Ultimately, law enforcement got a hold of this car and found traces of blood, the complaint says.

If the trio is convicted on kidnapping charges, they’ll face a potential maximum sentence of up to life in prison, the release said.

Hackensack, New Jersey, where the victim is from, is about 25 miles northwest of Queens, where prosecutors said he was tortured.

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