South Florida suspect in blowtorch kidnapping of doctor is extradited from Spain to face charges

A South Florida suspect who authorities say participated in a violent kidnapping and fled the country has been extradited from Spain to Miami.

Serge Nkorina, 55, will be arraigned Tuesday in Miami federal court on the kidnapping charges involving the 2019 abduction of a physician at a Walmart near his Hallandale Beach medical practice.

Nkorina, a U.S. citizen who was ordered detained by a magistrate judge at his first court appearance Wednesday, could not be reached for comments, and no defense attorney was listed for him in the court record.

Nkorina is accused of partnering with another South Florida man, who has already pleaded guilty in the case.

On Jan. 15, 2019, police were called to the parking lot of Cheetah Gentleman’s Club in Hallandale Beach because a car horn was sounding continuously. When officers arrived, they found a person in the front seat with his hands and feet bound. The victim also had burns and lacerations, according to court records.

The kidnapping victim was Dr. Nader Shehata.

Shehata said he was taken at gunpoint from Walmart, forced into a rental van and blindfolded. He was then tied up and repeatedly shocked with a Taser, according to investigators. His captors told him they would kill him if he didn’t give them money, they said.

Shehata was taken to a storage facility, where his hands were burned with a blowtorch and he was hit by the suspects, who were trying to get information that would lead them to the doctor’s money, investigators said. He was then left tied up in the car in the Cheetah parking lot.

In December 2019, Justin Boccio, 33, of Deerfield Beach, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on kidnapping charges. His co-defendant, Nkorina, arrested in Spain last year, was declared a fugitive as he awaited extradition in the ongoing FBI case. Nkorina was flown to Miami on Wednesday night.

Shehata, the physician, survived but was later charged with an unrelated federal crime.

The doctor known for his prolific Botox practice was charged in October with failing to have legal Rx labels on his prescription drugs for injections to smooth out patients’ wrinkles.

Shehata, 63, who has been licensed in Florida since 2001, pleaded guilty in December to using misbranded Botox prescription drugs at his practice, Derma Laser Center. He faces a sentence of three years’ probation and cannot practice medicine for two years, according to his plea agreement.