Torture video leads to kidnapping convictions

Published August 22, 2014 11:03am ET



BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A jury shown the videotaped torture of a kidnapping victim has convicted the two men who held a man captive for 17 hours at a Buffalo home because they thought he was a police informant.

Local media report that 23-year-old Wesley Woods and 29-year-old Stephen Dawson were found guilty Thursday of kidnapping and robbery.

Authorities say the two men kidnapped a 25-year-old crack addict they accused of being a snitch. Video from Dawson’s cellphone shows a gun being shoved into the victim’s mouth and the victim being forced to lick his own blood off the boot of a captor.

Prosecutors say Woods used a power drill to break one of the victim’s teeth.

Police rescued the victim after Dawson posted the video on his Facebook page and the victim’s family saw it.