Cash News
Four men are accused of flying to Portland from Florida, kidnapping a man, tying him to a post in a rural Washington County field and beating him to get the passcode to his cryptocurrency wallet.
The four now face federal charges of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap. They were arrested in Florida late last month and flown to Oregon to face the allegations in US. District Court in Portland.
Ralph Moreno Jr., 24, Justice Uallah Del Carpi, 22, and Jackson Reves, 19, entered not guilty pleas Thursday to the charges. Billy Cordova, 24, entered not guilty pleas earlier this month. They are being held at the federal detention center in Sheridan pending trial.
According to an indictment, the four flew to Portland on Nov. 8, 2023, rented an Airbnb in Vancouver and used ride-share car services to get around.
Over the next two days, they watched their target’s downtown Portland apartment and schemed how to carry out the kidnapping, the indictment alleges.
On Nov. 10, some in the group abducted the man, forced him from one car into another and drove him away from his residence while others entered the man’s apartment to try to access his cryptocurrency, the indictment alleges.
They drove the man to a field in Banks, tied him to a post with duct tape and repeatedly assaulted him before abandoning him, according to the indictment and police records.
Later that day, they ultimately used the man’s password, or so-called “seed phrase,” to transfer digital currency from his cryptocurrency wallet to another location, the indictment says. Prosecutors have not disclosed how much currency was taken.
A woman passing by found the man, now 22, taped to a post and called police at 8:33 a.m. on Nov. 11, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
She reported she located the man near Northwest Mountaindale Road and Old Pumpkin Ridge Road and said he appeared to have undergone some “torture,” according to the initial sheriff’s report. The case was turned over to Portland police and the FBI.
The four defendants initially appeared in federal court in Jacksonville before their transfer to Portland.
In Oregon, extortion and personal data breaches accounted for the most frequent cryptocurrency frauds reported in 2023, according to the FBI.
Last year, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 69,000 complaints from the public nationally regarding cyber-enabled crime and financial fraud involving the use of cryptocurrency, with more than $5.6 million in reported losses.
“As the use of cryptocurrencies grows in popularity for investors, criminals are deploying increasingly complex tactics to deceive and exploit the public,” Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of FBI’s Philadelphia office, said in a statement. Pennsylvania and New Jersey were among the top 10 states for most reported cryptocurrency complaints and for reported losses last year.
— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, [email protected] , follow her on X @maxoregonianor on LinkedIn.
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