Woeltz, also known as the “crypto king of Kentucky,” was apprehended on Friday

Woeltz, also known as the “crypto king of Kentucky,” was apprehended on Friday after a man escaped from his luxury NoLIta apartment and flagged down a traffic agent

A man known as the “crypto king of Kentucky” has been arrested in connection with the alleged kidnapping and torture of a 28-year-old Italian citizen in a luxury lower Manhattan townhouse.

Thomas Woeltz was apprehended on Friday after the victim managed to escape from the five-story home in NoLIta and flagged down a traffic agent who contacted police, reports the New York Times.

The victim, Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, was allegedly held captive for three weeks. During that time, he was pistol-whipped, slashed with a saw and threatened with a taser gun, according to reports.

Prosecutors allege that while in the house Woeltz and his alleged accomplice, William Duplessie, who was arrested on Tuesday, tortured Carturan by pistol-whipping him, shocking him with a taser gun, forcing him to smoke crack cocaine and cutting his leg with a saw, according to CBS News. Carturan told police that he was even suspended over a ledge at the top of the five-story home, according to the New York Times.

The ordeal unfolded after Carturan, a business partner of Woeltz, arrived at the townhouse on May 6.

Upon his arrival, Woeltz and his accomplice confiscated Carturan’s passport and electronic devices. They allegedly threatened to harm the victim’s family members if he did not provide the password to his Bitcoin wallet, which is said to contain millions of dollars in crypto.

Lawyers for Woeltz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for Duplessie declined to comment when contacted by Fortune.

Woeltz grew up in Paducah, Kentucky, about 140 miles outside of Nashville, according to an interview he gave to a local newspaper in 2020. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Woeltz moved west to invest in tech startups.

He entered the crypto space around 2018, when he served part of the winning team at ETHGlobal San Francisco hackathon, an annual event put on by an Ethereum-focused organization. He then went on to become the managing director of Silicon River Capital and blockchain-based investment fund, according to his interview in the local paper.

More recently, Woeltz became involved with the Bitcoin mining industry in Kentucky. He was chosen by the state office of technology to join a working group focused on using blockchain technology for “critical infrastructure, public utilities, telecommunications, emergency services,” according to the group’s annual report.

Woeltz has been charged with kidnapping, assault, unlawful imprisonment and criminal possession of a firearm, according to court documents. He was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday, where his bail was set at $250,000 bail, according to the New York Post.

The New York City saga comes as just the latest in an epidemic of violent kidnappings of wealth crypto owners, a phenomenon that has led some to purchase “wrench attack” insurance—a policy whose names come from a meme that shows bandits scheming to defeat high tech safeguards by hitting the victim with a wrench.