MIAMI, Fla. – A Deerfield Beach man was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $83,000 in restitution for his involvement in a torture and kidnapping plot. His co-conspirator arrived in Miami Wednesday night on a flight from Spain after being extradited back to the United States.
Justin Boccio, 33, of Deerfield Beach, was sentenced by federal prosecutors and Serge Nkorina, 55, (pictured below) is facing charges for kidnapping and brutally torturing a South Florida plastic surgeon with a blowtorch in an elaborate plot to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the doctor.
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According to court documents, the plastic surgeon was shopping at a Broward County Walmart on Jan. 14, 2019, around 6:45 p.m. when he was approached by an armed man in the parking lot and forced into a nearby moving van. The captors blindfolded and bound the surgeon, who was not identified in the court papers. During the ride to a storage facility in Margate, the men stunned the surgeon multiple times using a Taser, the document said.
Once at the storage facility, the men tied the surgeon to a chair and used a blowtorch to burn the tops of his hands and beat him, the documents said. It is alleged that Boccio and Nkorina also threatened to kill the man. They demanded the address to the victim’s home and an entry code in order to steal money.
The surgeon told authorities that the captors were hard to see because they wore baseball hats outfitted with bright headlamps. At some point, the men forced the surgeon to drink alcohol and he passed out, the documents said.
Around 4 a.m. the next morning, police found the victim bound inside his car outside Cheetah Gentlemen’s Club in Hallandale Beach. The victim continuously hit the car’s horn to attract the attention of police.
Investigators were able to connect Boccio, a former flight instructor, and Nkornia to the abduction using videos from surveillance cameras at multiple locations, including the Walmart. Authorities also found evidence that Boccio and Nkornia had stalked the surgeon before the abduction, visiting his Broward County medical office, the documents said.
Phone records and purchases, including renting a moving van, help tie the men to the abduction, the documents said.
Boccio was arrested April 4. During the hearing on Thursday, Jan. 21, U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga stated, “(Boccio) forgot his decency and his values when he participated in the torture of this innocent human being.” Altonaga sentenced Boccio to a concurrent term of 135 months in prison, on each count of conviction, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release. She also ordered that the defendant pay the victim $83,056.80 in restitution.
Nkorina, who was arrested by local authorities in Spain, has not yet made his appearance in the South Florida case and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, FBI’s Miami Field Office made the announcement of Boccio’s sentencing.