LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Three youngsters are accused of kidnapping a person at gunpoint, driving him to a distant desert space an hour outdoors of Las Vegas, and stealing $4 million in cryptocurrency and different digital property, the 8 Information Now Investigators have discovered.
Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher, each 16, and a 3rd teenager face expenses together with theft, kidnapping, and extortion, data mentioned. A juvenile courtroom decide beforehand licensed Ashraf and Fletcher as adults.
The third teenager was not in the USA, a prosecutor mentioned throughout Fletcher’s possible trigger listening to Friday. The lads are accused of stealing $4 million in cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), prosecutors mentioned.
Final November, a person referred to as police saying three younger males kidnapped him at gunpoint, drove him to a distant desert space, and stole thousands and thousands of {dollars} from him, paperwork mentioned.
Police suspect the three younger males then drove the sufferer throughout the Nevada border to White Hills, Arizona — greater than 70 miles and an hour’s drive from Las Vegas. The sufferer walked 5 miles alone within the desert to succeed in a gasoline station the place he referred to as a good friend to select him up, paperwork mentioned. (KLAS)
That evening, the sufferer was internet hosting a cryptocurrency-related occasion at a enterprise in Downtown Las Vegas, police mentioned. The sufferer then returned to his house complicated and parked his automotive. The three suspects then approached him and compelled him into the again seat of their automobile, police mentioned.
“[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,” paperwork mentioned. “[The victim] had a towel placed over his head and was told by the suspects not to look at them.”
The younger males demanded the sufferer’s passwords and threatened him for entry to his monetary accounts, police mentioned. It additionally appeared that one other individual was straight talking to the younger males via a cellphone name, which the sufferer may hear via a speakerphone.
Police suspect the three younger males then drove the sufferer throughout the Nevada border to White Hills, Arizona — greater than 70 miles and an hour’s drive from Las Vegas. The sufferer walked 5 miles alone within the desert to succeed in a gasoline station the place he referred to as a good friend to select him up, paperwork mentioned.
Austin Fletcher, 16, seems in Las Vegas Justice Court docket on Could 9, 2025. (KLAS)
Metro investigators later tracked a doable suspect automobile touring from Florida to Nevada, particularly together with the areas of the sufferer’s house. In a separate automobile cease in Mississippi, a gun involving a suspect’s member of the family matched one in one of many teenager’s social media profiles, police mentioned.
The three youngsters have been additionally concerned in disturbances collectively at a Florida highschool, police mentioned.
In a single report from final summer time, the younger males “were reported as swearing in English and Arabic, and [Ashraf] was observed shoulder checking a school resource officer,” and screaming at an assistant principal, paperwork mentioned.
Throughout Friday’s listening to, Fletcher’s public defender argued for her shopper to serve home arrest. Las Vegas Justice Court docket Decide Daniel Westmeyer set bail at $4 million.
This surveillance picture exhibits the sufferer’s automotive leaving through the kidnapping, police say. (KLAS)
Throughout a listening to Tuesday in Ashraf’s case, his lawyer, Ross Goodman, argued for his shopper to serve home arrest. Las Vegas Justice Court docket Decide Noreen Demonte ordered Ashraf’s launch with digital monitoring, data mentioned.
A preliminary listening to was scheduled for June. The FBI assisted within the investigation, paperwork mentioned.
8 Information Now Investigator David Charns could be reached at [email protected].
