US contractor running a weapons factory in Northern Iraq is arrested on federal charges 'for abducting and torturing Kurdish worker for 39 days where he shocked him with stun gun, suffocated him and threatened to cut off his finger'

 A Pennsylvania man was arrested Thursday on federal charges that while he was running a weapons factory in Iraq's Kurdistan region in 2015, he allegedly tortured an employee by suffocating him until he lost consciousness, shocking him with a stun gun and threatening to cut off his finger. 

Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was managing a project to construct a factory and produce weapons in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2015, when an unnamed an employee 'raised concerns about the weapons project,' the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Friday. 

An indictment returned by a grand jury on Tuesday alleges that one of Roggio's employees raised concerns about the weapons project and, to prevent the employee from interfering, Roggio arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct the employee. 

The indictment alleges that Roggio directed Kurdish soldiers to suffocate the unnamed victim with a bag, Taser the victim in the groin and other areas of his body, beat the victim with fists and rubber hoses, jump violently on the victim’s chest while wearing military boots, and threaten to cut off one of the victim’s fingers while applying pressure to the finger with a large cutting tool. 

On at least one occasion, Roggio wrapped his belt around the victim’s neck, yanked the victim off the ground, and suspended him in the air, causing the victim to lose consciousness, the indictment says.

Ross Roggio, 53, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, was arrested Thursday on federal charges that while he was running a weapons factory in Iraq's Kurdistan region in 2015, he allegedly tortured an employee

Ross Roggio was managing a project to construct a factory and produce weapons in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2015, when an unnamed an employee 'raised concerns about the weapons project' and he allegedly directed Kurdish soldiers to torture him 

The flag of Iraqi Kurdistan flies above the ruins of the devastated town of Sinjar after its liberation in 2015.  Roggio was managing a project to construct a factory and produce weapons in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2015 when it's alleged he tortured an employee

Roggio is seen in Northern Iraq, Kurdistan, in a Jan. 2017 photo from his Facebook page. He's  only the second American citizen to be charged with violating a U.S. torture statute that into effect in 1994, the department said

Roggio is only the second American citizen to be charged with violating a U.S. torture statute that went into effect in 1994, the department said. 

He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and one count of torture.

The new charges come on top of a 37-count indictment filed against Roggio in 2018 accusing him of illegally exporting firearms parts and tools to Iraq, which alone could put him behind bars for a maximum of 705 years.  

'The heinous acts of violence that Ross Roggio directed and inflicted upon the victim were blatant human rights violations that will not be tolerated,' FBI Assistant Director Luis Quesada said in a statement issued Friday. 

'This superseding indictment underscores that the United States stands for the rule of law and will hold accountable anyone who commits acts of torture, regardless of where it takes place.' 

Roggio was taken into custody on Thursday night in Pittston, Pennsylvania. 

His mother, Soon Roggio, told WFXR that her son is her caretaker and that she cannot live without him.  

'I'm a mother of course everybody thinks I'm wrong,' Soon Roggio said. 'A wrong idea everybody thinks of me. But I just can't live without him.' 

Soon Roggio said her son was going to Pittston to get a drug test Thursday but never came home. He called her hours later when he was arrested.

'He said he's OK, but he was just worried about me and my husband, rather than himself,' Soon said. 

Roggio is seen in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq in a 2016 photo from his Facebook page. He was arrested Thursday on federal charges that he abducted and tortured a Kurdish employee for 39 days

Roggio's mother, Soon Roggio, told WFXR that her son is her caretaker and that she cannot live without him

Roggio's friend, Kevin Forrest, said he was surprised to hear of Roggio's new charges Friday

Local news also spoke to Roggio's friend, Kevin Forrest, who said he was surprised to hear of Roggio's new charges Friday.

'If you knew him and the things that he would do for people and everything,' Forest said. 

'You just couldn't imagine that anything, like they're accusing him of doing, would ever have happened.' 

Roggio and the Roggio Consulting Company LLC previously were charged in a 37-count indictment in 2018 with illegally exporting firearms parts and tools from the United States to Iraq as part of the weapons project in Kurdistan.

The new indictment added the torture charges to the previously charged offenses.

The torture charges are being investigated by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.  

If convicted, Roggio faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each of the torture charges as well as a maximum total statutory penalty of 705 years in prison for the remaining 37 counts, the department said. 

The victim was not identified in the department's announcement on Friday.