Two men are facing charges after a South Florida plastic surgeon was kidnapped at gunpoint and tortured with a blowtorch during a violent robbery earlier this year, authorities said.
Sergei Nkorina, 53, and Justin Boccio, 33, are charged with kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to a Wednesday news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.
Officials said Nkorina and Boccio plotted the kidnapping to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the victim, a plastic surgeon in Broward County, purchasing supplies at a Home Depot and renting a van from Budget.
On January 14, Boccio went to the victim's office and made false representations on paperwork, officials said. Later that day, Nkorina and Boccio intercepted the victim in a Walmart parking lot in Broward, blindfolding him and forcing him into the rental van, officials said.
The surgeon was taken to a storage facility in Margate, where Nkorina and Boccio burned his hands with a blowtorch and threatened to kill him with a firearm and other weapons while demanding access codes to his home, officials said. The victim told the suspects he had $50,000 in his home and told them where they could find it, authorities said.
The next day, Nkorina, who was carrying a firearm, went to the victim's home, where he was captured on video surveillance, officials said. He fled the home when a family member of the victim saw him approach the door and turned on the lights, officials said.
Nkorina and Boccio left the victim, with his hands and feet bound, in his vehicle in the parking lot of Cheetah Gentlemen’s Club, where he was found by authorities after continuously honking the car's horn, officials said. Officials said surveillance footage, van rental paperwork and cell phone records led them to Nkorina and Boccio.
Boccio, of Deerfield Beach, was arrested in South Florida, while Nkorina was arrested in Spain, officials said. Attorney information wasn't available.
