2 NYC Men Sentenced in Kidnapping, Torture of Man at Queens Warehouse: DA

Prosecutors say the man was burned with acid and beaten while his family in Ecuador was asked to pay $3 million

Two New York City men have been sentenced to prison after they kidnapped another man off the street and held him for a over a month at a warehouse in Long Island City, officials from the Queens District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Christian Acuna, 38, Dennis Alves, 36, both of Queens, were sentenced to 13-and-a-half years in prison Thursday after they pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping last month, officials said. Both faced charges of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.

Acuna and Alves were also sentenced to five years of post-release supervision, officials said.

A third man, Eduardo Moncayo of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, 42, is currently serving 25 years to life in prison after he was sentenced last October.

The three men held and tortured Pedro Portugal, a 52-year-old father of four, for more than a month while demanding a $3 million ransom from his family in Ecuador, authorities said.

Three men have been charged in the kidnapping of another man off a Queens street in broad daylight, holding him for over a month and demanding a $3 million ransom from his family, authorities said Wednesday. Gus Rosendale reports.

Portugal was approached on a Jackson Heights street in front of his office on April 18, 2013 by several men, including Moncayo, who showed him what looked like a police badge. He was forced into a car, a mask was put over his face, and he was threatened with a knife, authorities said.

Portugal was taken to a warehouse in Long Island City, where he was kept for more than a month, authorities said. During this time, "the victim's fingers were burned with acid and had a tooth knocked out," said District Attorney Richard Brown.

Prosecutors said he was threatened with mutilation and death. He allegedly was masked and held with his hands bound.

Portugal "suffered physical injuries and has been deeply traumatized by the ordeal," Brown said.

His alleged kidnappers forced him to call his mother in Ecuador, asking for the ransom, authorities said.

Police, notified of his disappearance and the ransom call, were searching for him and found him through phone records and leads. A detective from the NYPD's Major Case Squad posing as a firefighter doing a safety inspection entered the warehouse and found Portugal with his hands bound with cloth and duct tape, officials said.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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