According to information obtained by the 8 News Now Investigators, three youths are charged with kidnapping a guy at gunpoint, transporting him to a desolate desert region an hour outside of Las Vegas, and stealing $4 million in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
According to documents, 16-year-old Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher of Pasco County, Florida, together with a third minor, are accused of robbery, kidnapping, and extortion. Ashraf and Fletcher were previously certified as adults by a juvenile court judge.
During Fletcher’s probable cause hearing on Friday, a prosecutor stated that the third teen was no longer in the United States. Prosecutors claim the men stole $4 million worth of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
According to records, a guy called police in November to report that three young men had abducted him at gunpoint, taken him to a distant desert region, and stolen millions of dollars.
According to authorities, the victim was organizing a cryptocurrency-related event at a Downtown Las Vegas business that evening. After then, the victim parked his car and went back to his apartment complex. According to authorities, the three suspects then came up to him and pushed him into the back seat of their car.
“[The victim] was told if he complied, he would live to see another day, and if he did not comply, they had his dad and would kill him,” documents said. “[The victim] had a towel placed over his head and was told by the suspects not to look at them.”
According to the authorities, the young guys threatened to gain access to the victim’s financial accounts and demanded his passwords. Additionally, the victim could hear someone else talking to the young guys directly via a speakerphone during a phone call.
The three young males are suspected by the police of driving the victim to White Hills, Arizona, which is more than 70 miles and an hour’s drive from Las Vegas, over the Nevada border. According to documents, the victim called a buddy to come get him after walking five miles by himself across the desert to a petrol station.
Subsequently, Metro detectives followed a potential suspect car from Florida to Nevada, including the victim’s apartment’s locations. According to authorities, a gun found in one of the teen’s social media sites matched one found in a different car stop in Mississippi involving a suspect’s relative.
According to authorities, the three adolescents allegedly participated in group disruptions at a high school in Florida.
Fletcher’s public defender made the case for her client’s home arrest during Friday’s hearing. Judge Daniel Westmeyer of the Las Vegas Justice Court established a $4 million bond amount.
In June, a preliminary hearing was set. According to records, the FBI helped with the probe.
