- The victim was allegedly ambushed after a downtown crypto event.
- The kidnapping ended with a five-mile desert walk to safety.
- One suspect remains in custody, another on house arrest.
You’d expect a $4 million armed heist to involve hardened criminals. But in this case, the suspects are still in high school.
Two Florida teenagers have been charged in connection with a $4 million armed crypto heist that escalated into a violent desert kidnapping outside Las Vegas, according to court documents reviewed by KLAS 8 News Now.
Belal Ashraf and Austin Fletcher, both 16 and from Pasco County, are accused of abducting a man at gunpoint last November, forcing him to drive more than 70 miles into the Arizona desert before stealing millions in cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens.
A third teenager, who has reportedly fled the United States, is also implicated but has not yet been named.
The suspects allegedly ambushed the victim outside his downtown Las Vegas apartment as he returned from a crypto event, shoving him into their vehicle and covering his head with a towel, court records state.
They threatened to kill him if he failed to hand over his crypto account passwords, warning that they had his father and would harm him if he resisted.
After being driven across the Nevada border to White Hills, Arizona, the victim was reportedly left alone in the desert.
He then walked five miles to reach a gas station, where he called a friend for help, according to KLAS.
Ashraf and Fletcher, who have been certified as adults by a juvenile court judge, are facing charges of robbery, kidnapping, extortion, and other felonies.
Fletcher remains in custody on $4 million bail, while Ashraf has been released to house arrest with electronic monitoring.
And as unbelievable as the details in this case sound, it isn’t an isolated incident.
Just two months ago, four teenagers aged 16 to 19 were charged with violently robbing high-profile Twitch streamer Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa at her Houston home.
During that attack, the masked intruders, armed with guns, pistol-whipped Siragusa and demanded access to her cryptocurrency holdings, which she had previously shared online.
The robbery only ended when her husband fired gunshots, forcing the suspects to flee.
Kyle Baird is DL News’ Weekend Editor. Got a tip? Email at kbaird@dlnews.com.
