PLANTATION, Fla. – A trio of armed kidnappers took a man from his Fort Lauderdale apartment at gunpoint, shoved him into a car, blindfolded him and took him to an Airbnb rented by one of the suspects, prosecutors say.
It turned out that they got the wrong guy, prosecutors allege. But authorities say that didn’t stop them from quickly changing plans and torturing him in an attempt to get their intended target.
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According to federal prosecutors, the story would end with a fake bomb threat and Broward County deputies capturing the captors.
The three men, Jeffry Arista, 32; his brother, Jonathan Arista, 29; and Raymond Gomez, 33, are now facing federal charges.
It all started Friday morning, just before 8 a.m., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
A criminal complaint states that’s when the three men, driving a Dodge Charger with tinted windows and a “police” light, pulled into the parking garage at the victim’s Fort Lauderdale apartment and intercepted him as he tried to get into his car.
One of the kidnappers took the victim at gunpoint and was wearing what appeared to be a ballistic vest and gold badge on his belt, the complaint states.
The men forced the victim to wear a black head covering, shoved him in the back seat and took him to an Airbnb in Plantation rented by Jonathan Arista, and then threw the victim’s cellphone out of the car along the way, prosecutors allege.
Authorities say the kidnappers would soon realize they had a problem.
The complaint states that after arriving at the Airbnb, Jeffry Arista asked the man to identify himself, implying they kidnapped the wrong person.
They then removed the victim’s wallet and looked at his ID. It turned out that the trio had actually been looking for the victim’s co-worker, who prosecutors say owed them money.
The complaint alleges that the three drilled the victim — figuratively and literally.
They asked him why he was using their intended target’s car the previous Thursday and “demanded to know where the money was,” the complaint states. Then they threatened the man by putting an electric drill to his skin and pointing guns at his head, prosecutors said.
The torture wouldn’t end there, prosecutors allege, as they say the trio would take the man into a bathroom and waterboard him. The complaint states the victim thought he was going to drown.
The complaint states the Arista brothers and Gomez had to “brainstorm” a new plan to get their intended victim.
Eventually, the trio hatched up a plan: They’d give their current victim a new cellphone, log into his iCloud account, get the intended target’s cellphone number and get the two to make plans to meet up, the complaint states.
Authorities say sometime before 2 a.m. the next day, the trio drove the man to the Pompano Beach business to meet up with their intended target. They said they ordered the man to go inside in an attempt to lure his co-worker to the three men.
Instead, the victim told his co-worker everything about what was happening and called a fake bomb threat into 911 in order to ensure a rapid police response.
Deputies eventually arrested the trio.
According to the complaint, Gomez claimed that the three had been put up to the kidnapping at the direction of an “unknown male” over a debt and claimed he “felt bad” for the victim during the torture.
Federal prosecutors are charging the three with kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap, which could land them in prison for life.
The Arista brothers have already appeared in federal court, while Gomez awaits his appearance, according to the DOJ.
Read the complaint: