STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Staten Island man played a key role in a New Jersey abduction earlier this week in which the victim was rescued after being found —bound and gagged — in a Queens home, officials said.
Fa Deng, 42, was charged with conspiring to commit kidnapping along with Queens residents Albert Ferrelli, 50, and Chiahao Lee, 30, said Philip R. Sellinger, U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Public records list addresses for Deng in Castleton Corners.
According to prosecutors and a criminal complaint, the events unfolded on Sunday when Deng, whom Lee knew as “Jay” or “B,” asked him to rent a car.
Lee’s wife rented a minivan the next day at LaGuardia Airport, said officials.
At about 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Deng and Lee met in Queens, said the complaint.
They picked up Ferrelli and an unidentified conspirator and drove to the victim’s home in Fort Lee, N.J., the complaint said.
Ferrelli and the other man entered the residence wearing masks, while Deng and Lee remained in the van. Ferrelli and his accomplice bound the victim’s hands, duct-taped his eyes and mouth and forced him into the van, said authorities.
The group then drove to 33-70 Prince Street in the Flushing section of Queens, the complaint said.
Afterward, the victim’s wife, who lives in China, was texted a photograph of the victim, bound and duct-taped, along with a ransom demand of about $680,000, officials said.
Lee told authorities Deng had contacted the victim’s wife on his own phone and demanded the money.
Witnesses alerted authorities to the kidnapping.
On arriving at the victim’s home, investigators found what appeared to be duct tape with pieces of latex gloves stuck to it.
Through surveillance footage, authorities identified a gray minivan used in the abduction, they said.
Other surveillance video showed the minivan crossing the George Washington Bridge shortly after the kidnapping and subsequently traveling into the Bronx and then Queens, police said.
Police went to the Prince Street address at about noon on Wednesday.
Ferrelli was outside, guarding the door.
When officers approached him, they heard a man screaming for help inside the building, said authorities.
On entering, police found the victim with his hands bound and duct tape over his eyes and mouth, said authorities.
While speaking to Ferrelli, authorities saw Deng approaching. Deng tried to run but was nabbed, officials said.
Additional surveillance video showed the victim had tried to escaping by running out of the building at about 10:33 p.m. on Tuesday, the complaint said.
The video depicted Ferrelli, who was outside near the sidewalk, tackling the man. A struggle ensued in which Ferrelli tried to choke the victim, said the complaint.
Ferrelli then grabbed the man and pulled him back into the building, the complaint said.
Ferrelli told authorities Deng was his boss and instructed him to watch the door, said the complaint.
Authorities said they later located the gray minivan used in the kidnapping. It was parked in the driveway of Lee’s home in Queens, the complaint said.
After his rescue, the victim told investigators at least one of the men who kidnapped him the previous night was carrying a gun, said the complaint.
The defendants were charged in New Jersey federal court.
The maximum penalty they face is life imprisonment, said officials.
Deng is being held without bail, online court records show.
His lawyer did not immediately return an email seeking comment on the case.
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