Kidnappers sent to prison for abducting Fort Lee man in 2022

Four New York men have been sentenced to prison for conspiring to kidnap and hold for ransom a resident of Fort Lee, New Jersey, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced on Wednesday.

Fa Deng, 44, of Staten Island, New York, received a sentence of 144 months in prison, along with three years of supervised release and a $200,000 fine.

Chiahao Lee, 32, of Queens, New York, was sentenced to 180 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Albert Ferrelli, 52, also of Queens, New York, received a sentence of 250 months in prison and five years of supervised release.

Gabriel Anthony, 36, of Queens, New York, was sentenced to 168 months in prison and three years of supervised release. All four defendants had previously pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to commit interstate kidnapping.

According to court documents and statements made during the proceedings, the incident occurred on April 5, 2022.

The conspirators traveled to the victim’s home in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Anthony and Ferrelli, wearing masks, entered the residence, bound the victim’s hands, covered his eyes and mouth with duct tape, and forced him into a vehicle where Deng and Lee were waiting.

Law enforcement officials received information that the kidnappers had sent a photograph of the bound and duct-taped victim to his wife, demanding a ransom of approximately $680,000.

Upon responding to the victim’s home, authorities discovered duct tape with pieces of latex gloves attached. Surveillance footage identified a gray minivan involved in the abduction, which was later seen crossing the George Washington Bridge into the Bronx and then Queens.

On the following day, New York Police Department officers responded to a building on Prince Street in Queens, where they found Ferrelli guarding the entrance.

Upon hearing a man screaming for help inside, officers entered the building and found the victim with his hands bound and duct tape over his eyes and mouth.

Sellinger credited the successful investigation and subsequent sentencings to the collaborative efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies, including special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy; the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, led by Prosecutor Mark Musella; the Fort Lee Police Department, headed by Chief Matthew J. Hintze; and the New York Police Department, under Commissioner Edward A. Caban.