FOOLS KEEP FALLING FOR HONEYPOTS

New details emerge about twisted Bronx honeypot kidnapping case 

 

By Joe Marino and Tamar Lapin

 

New York Post

March 15, 2022 

 

 

             Valerie Rosario allegedly lured a man into a trap in which he was tortured and held for ransom

 

New details emerged Tuesday about the sick kidnapping scheme that left a New York City man burned, gagged and on the brink of death — as the alleged honeypot charged with luring him was indicted.

Police found the 24-year-old victim — who was allegedly kidnapped Feb. 7 — wrapped in a furniture-moving blanket, with tape covering his nose and mouth, inside a van parked in Queens, according to sources and prosecutors.

One of his knife-toting tormentors was also in the vehicle, the sources said.

At the time, two of his kidnappers had taken his car, a black Honda Accord, to a ransom drop with the victim’s brother in The Bronx, the police sources said.

The victim told cops that the men were armed with a handgun and also has his cell phone, the sources said.

The vicious fiends had demanded $100,000 from the victim’s horrified brother — who was forced to watch as his sibling was cut with a knife on a grisly FaceTime call, according to court documents first reported by The Post.

 

Rosario has been charged with kidnapping and attempted murder

 

The kidnappers, who wore masks on the video, called from a blocked number, the sources said. Police went to the drop site, but didn’t see the victim’s car or anyone suspicious.

Prosecutors have said the young man was “barely breathing” when he was found, following a twisted 24-hour torture session where he was stabbed and beaten.

The twisted saga began after the victim connected with a pretty brunette over Instagram — never suspecting that he was allegedly being targeted because she and her accomplices thought he was a wealthy prey.

Valerie Rosario, 22, who allegedly lured him to a Bronx apartment Feb. 7, was indicted in the sickening case and is set to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court next month.

The indictment charges were not made public. But prosecutors initially charged her last week with attempted murder and kidnapping.

According to sources, she was arrested March 10 after cops tracked her to the Bronx home of the aunt of one of her alleged co-conspirators, Michael Candelario, who has also been charged.

Prosecutors say Rosario allegedly coaxed the victim, a “complete stranger,” to an address on Marble Hill Avenue in the Bronx after they connected on Instagram.

He went to meet the Lower East Side con woman, believing they were linking up for a romantic encounter, according to sources.

 

Valerie Rosario allegedly led the victim to an address in Marble Hill tricking him into thinking he was arriving for a romantic encounter

 

But when he arrived, three men barged in and pistol-whipped him. Rosario, and the accomplices then allegedly stripped the victim, “placed him in a bathtub, poured flammable substances on him, and burned him with a flame” all over his body, according to a criminal complaint.

They also tormented him with a knife, striking him “about the legs, back and body,” the court doc states.

Several hours of torture later, the group of sadists moved the victim to an address Queens in his own car, sources said.

 

Throughout the night, the man was allegedly subjected to barbaric torture He was placed in a bathtub before being stripped, burned and stabbed while having a flammable liquid thrown over him

 

Police tracked him down to the back of van parked there, and arrested another of the alleged accomplices, Javier Vargas.

Vargas, 24, was arraigned on Feb. 9 and also remanded into custody. His next court date is set for March 22.