Federal charges have been filed against six men from Florida who are suspected in a carjacking and kidnapping in Danbury.
According to court documents, the group planned the crime through group texts and one suspect booked the flights they took from Florida to commit the crimes.
The investigation started when Danbury police received several 911 calls late in the afternoon of Aug. 25 from people who said several men were assaulting another man and forced him into a white work van.
Officers tried to stop the van on Clapboard Ridge Road, near the intersection of East Gate Road, but the driver sped off, then crashed around a mile away on Cowperthwaite Street.
Get top local stories in Connecticut delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC Connecticut's News Headlines newsletter.
After the crash, four men dressed in black got out and ran, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Inside the van, police found a man and a woman bound with electrical tape and the man had significant injuries.
Both victims were taken to the hospital.
Local
The victims told investigators that a Honda Civic had rear-ended their Lamborghini Urus on Damia Drive in Danbury and a white work van cut in front of their vehicle.
The carjackers then pulled them from the Lamborghini, dragged them into the van and bound them with electrical tape, according to federal officials.
When the man resisted, he was punched in the face and hit with a baseball bat and both victims were repeatedly told that they would be killed, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney.
According to the affidavit, an FBI agent who happened to be in the area saw a Honda Civic following the van, thought the behavior was suspicious and he tried to follow, but he did manage to get the license plate number and investigators found that it had been rented to one of the suspects.
Four of the suspects were apprehended in various locations within a quarter-mile radius of where the van crashed.
The two others and the Honda Civic were found at a short-term rental home in Roxbury and the victims’ Lamborghini was found abandoned in the woods off the road on East King Street.
Federal officials said it is alleged that one suspect organized, paid for, and booked flights for the six to travel from Florida to commit this criminal activity.
They stayed in New York City on the night of Aug. 23, then made the trip to a rental home in Roxbury, according to documents.
A person with information relevant to the case also told investigators that the suspects conducted surveillance on the victims’ home and vehicle and followed them when they left the home.
The FBI New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force and the Danbury Police Department are investigating.
The suspects include an 18-year-old man, a 21-year-old man, a 23-year-old man, and a 26-year-old man, all from Miami, Florida; a 20-year-old man from Belle Clade, Florida; and a 23-year-old man from Miami Gardens, Florida.
All six suspects have been charged with conspiracy and carjacking.
They have been detained since they were arrested on state charges on Aug. 25.
