Men arrested on kidnapping charges have ties to candidate

ALBANY — A Montgomery County accountant says he still fears for his safety after two men allegedly kidnapped and beat him in early July before dousing him in lighter fluid and threatening to set him on fire. 

The two men, Thomas Marcellino and Ricardo Henderson, were arrested last month by the Schenectady Police Department on charges of kidnapping, assault and unlawful imprisonment. They are accused of kidnapping 43-year-old Matthew Moller, who was beaten and held against his will at Marcellino’s home in Schenectady, according to police.

The motive for the alleged crime is that the suspects believed Moller had been behind a break-in at a cannabis growing facility Marcellino operates in Amsterdam.

Moller works as an accountant and lives in the village of Hagaman, just outside the city of Amsterdam. He also has a side business in information technology, including setting up private security systems. Moller said he has known Marcellino, a former mixed martial arts fighter, since childhood, and had done some accounting work several years ago for Marcellino’s MMA promotion company, Cage Wars, before its acquisition by Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino — a GOP candidate in this year’s election for the New York 21st Congressional District seat. 

“I’ve known Thomas Marcellino my whole life, back to my grandmother and his mother being very good friends,” Moller said in a recent interview. “We did elementary school, middle school, high school together. We’ve been friends for 40 years.” 

Through Marcellino, Moller had also come to know Henderson, a Schenectady rapper who performs under the name “Porsche Truck Ruk.” Moller had assisted Henderson in accounting in various transactions between Henderson’s music production and Constantino’s company Sticker Mule, which funds Henderson’s music ventures and has produced and sponsored some of his music videos. 

The trouble between Moller and Marcellino began on July 10, when a burglary occurred at a Dayzed Cannabis growing facility in Amsterdam, at around 3 a.m. that morning. Security footage shared by Moller shows several men, their appearances concealed by ski masks and gloves, entering the facility and absconding with numerous large containers full of cannabis flower. The men can be seen in the footage unloading the cannabis from the totes into several vehicles, including a white van and a black Audi SUV, before leaving.

The investigation is still ongoing, according to Amsterdam Police Department officials. 

Moller said he had provided the security camera system to the grow-op facility at the request of Marcellino, who also runs the Amsterdam Cannabis dispensary business. Under New York law, dispensary owners cannot also be involved in a cannabis growing operation. Moller produced documents showing property of the growing facility was registered to Amsterdam Industrial, LLC, whose filings with the Department of State list Marcellino as its registered agent.

At around 8:00 a.m. the morning of the burglary, Moller got a call from Marcellino to come to the scene, where police were already present. They were having trouble accessing the security footage and needed his help to view it. Moller was able to access the footage and provide it to the police, but said he couldn’t help but notice that he seemed to be viewed with suspicion by people who were there. 

“I felt the eyes in the room piercing at me,” he recalled. “I’m like, ‘Why do I feel like everyone thinks I did it?’” 

Moller then allegedly got a call a few days later from Marcellino requesting he come to Marcellino’s residence in Schenectady to check the security camera system there. When he crouched down to inspect a router, Moller said, Marcellino snuck up behind him with a pair of handcuffs and put him in a chokehold, causing Moller to eventually lose consciousness. 

“I realized I got a handcuff on (my right hand), so I was trying to fight away with my left hand so he couldn’t handcuff me. And then, another person came in with a ski mask on and started hitting me over and over and over,” Moller recalled. “Then they got the handcuff on, then Marcellino choked me out.” 

When he regained consciousness, Moller said, the two men were still allegedly hitting him, saying, “We know it’s you,” and “give us names.” Moller said he eventually recognized the second man as Henderson because of his voice and the shoes he was wearing. 

The men allegedly beat Moller for around 30 minutes, kicking and punching while threatening to kill him. At one point, Moller recalled, they forced him onto his stomach, showed him a mallet and threatened to smash one of Moller’s hands. They then allegedly poured lighter fluid on him and threatened to set him on fire, accusing him of having been an accomplice in the theft. 

“I just sat there in a puddle of blood and tears and stuff, and I was like, ‘I didn’t have anything to do with this. My grandmother and your mom were best friends at one point. I wouldn’t do this to you,’” Moller recounted saying. “I thought it was over for me.”

The men eventually let Moller go, he said, but allegedly threatened him to not report what happened to police, saying they knew where he and his family lived. Moller then went to the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital in Amsterdam, where he received six stitches in his forehead as well as treatment for severe bruising, a cracked tooth and partial loss of vision in his left eye. 

Moller said that despite their alleged threats, he reported the incident to the police, who then arrested Marcellino and Henderson. Though the two men’s names are redacted in the arrest report released to Moller’s attorney by the Schenectady Police Department, they are identified in court documents filed in Schenectady City Court. 

Moller said he’s since received additional death threats. He provided a voicemail he had received, identifying the sender as Patrick Bonitatibus, an associate of Marcellino. Bonitatibus is heard explicitly threatening to kill Moller in the voicemail. 

“I’m going to kill you because I want to, not because they told me to,” Bonitatibus said. “I’m going to enjoy it.” Bonitatibus was later arrested by police on Aug. 4 on charges of aggravated harassment after leaving the voicemail. 

Asked if he fears further retaliation from Marcellino and Henderson, Moller answered, “100%.” 

Marcellino’s attorney, Michael Viscosi, declined to comment on the case. Henderson’s attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment. 

Both Marcellino and Henderson have ties to Constantino, who has not been accused of having any role in the criminal case involving Moller. Marcellino’s MMA promotion agency Cage Wars was acquired by Constantino in 2025, and Marcellino also helped train Constantino when he competed as a boxer in Mexico. Constantino previously told the Times Union that prior to the acquisition, he had spent at least $750,000 as a Cage Wars sponsor, and described Marcellino as a personal friend. 

Henderson, under the “Porsche Truck Ruk” moniker, has had music videos sponsored and produced by Sticker Mule, with Constantino even appearing in some of the videos. In one video for a song titled, “Say What You Mean,” Constantino appears in the background throughout the video and receives a shoutout from Henderson towards the song’s end. 

Moller produced invoices showing that Sticker Mule had paid Henderson around $600,000 over the last two years. The most recent invoice was from February. The charges appeared to be mainly for music contract services, including the production of several music videos. 

In a statement, Constantino’s campaign emphasized that neither Marcellino nor Henderson had ever been paid to work for the Republican in connection with his congressional race. 

“Neither Thomas Marcellino nor Ricardo Henderson have any involvement with the Constantino for Congress campaign,” the campaign’s statement said. “Past financial support for Cage Wars and Ricardo Henderson’s music were simply business transactions with local entrepreneurs, as has been done with numerous people and organizations.” 

Moller, who said he has known Constantino for several years and attended the wedding of his first wife, said he did not believe Constantino was directly involved in Marcellino’s cannabis ventures or had any role in the alleged kidnapping incident. 

Still, it would not be the first time Constantino has had a connection — even tacitly — to someone with serious criminal charges. Another man, Alec Flores of Incline Village, Nev., had worked for Constantino’s campaign for three months, despite facing a pending murder charge in his home state. The campaign said it had let him go after learning of the charges, but continued to pay him severance for several months afterwards. 

Marcellino and Henderson have pleaded not guilty to the charges and were released following their arraignment last month after posting a combined $845,000 in bail, according to court records.