2 Arrests Made After Florida Plastic Surgeon Kidnapped And Tortured
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The federal criminal complaint reads like a movie script; a pair of men kidnap a doctor, torture him and make him give up information about tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
But this was no movie, federal investigators say. This was real life. And the men accused of the shocking crime, Justin Boccio and Serge Nkorina, face up to life in prison if convicted.
The feds say the men began their preparations for the violent crime at a Broward County Home Depot with a purchase of supplies in late December.
Then they visited a Broward Budget rental car business in early January and rented a van.
Finally, in mid-January the feds say the kidnappers found their victim at a Broward Walmart and set off on a nine hour odyssey of kidnapping, torture and threats of murder.
The court documents reveal that the victim told federal agents that he was a plastic surgeon in Broward but the documents do not reveal his name or why the suspected kidnappers made him their target.
The documents say the kidnappers "forced him into a waiting van" and "blindfolded him."
They "bound his hands and feet" and the victim's "captors repeatedly used a Taser to shock him." Then they drove for an hour to Margate and at a storage facility there the torture began.
The "captors struck him and used a blowtorch to burn the top of his hands." They also "burned his hands with a hot metal object."
Federal investigators say the kidnappers, Nkorina and Boccio, wanted money and the victim gave them his address, an alarm code to the home and "instructions on where they could find approximately $50,000 inside of his house."
At least one of the suspects went to the home, but "a family member of the victim, who was not aware of the abduction, observed the individual approach the door and turned on the residence's lights. The man outside fled without gaining entry."
The complaint says the kidnappers dropped off the bound and passed out doctor in his car outside a Cheetah Gentleman's Club, where he was discovered honking his car horn.
He had burns on his hands and cuts on his face, according to the federal criminal complaint.
The feds wrote in the criminal complaint that they tracked one of the suspects, Justin Boccio, through surveillance video, including from inside the doctor's office just a couple of hours before the kidnapping.
They also traced his cellphone to various areas including the spot of the kidnapping and near the doctors' office in the days leading up to the crime.
CBS4 News spoke with a friend and former work colleague of Justin Boccio who said Boccio worked at a business based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
The person said they never saw Boccio being violent and that the allegations stand in stark contrast to the man they know.
Boccio is being held in federal detention in Miami.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Nkorina was arrested in Spain and is being held there. Both men face up to life in prison if convicted of the charges.