Queens man sentenced to 10 years in prison for kidnapping LI housekeeper

A Queens man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for the kidnapping of his housekeeper, a Port Washington resident whose feet were burned with a blowtorch during the abduction, authorities said.

Devanand Lachman, 35, of Bayside, had admitted that he and another man — armed with knives and a pistol — held Daisy Machuca on Feb. 13, 2015, and accused her of taking a gold chain and cash, the Queens District Attorney's Office said.

Lachman punched the housekeeper several times, prosecutors said, and the pair took her wallet and cell phone. When his wife, Ambar Lachman, came home, she watched as Machuca was punched and had her feet burned with a welding blowtorch, prosecutors said.

Ambar Lachman, 35, told the housekeeper she would be killed if she didn't tell them where the cash and jewelry were, officials said, and taking Machuca's keys, she went to the victim's home but didn't find the chain and money.

None of the missing items were recovered, officials said.

Online records show the couple were arrested the next day and charged with various crimes, including robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. In September, Devanand Lachman pleaded guilty to second-degree kidnapping and his wife to first-degree unlawful imprisonment.

Ambar Lachman was sentenced to five years' probation.

Lachman's accomplice has not been found, authorities said.

Devanand Lachman's attorney, Todd Greenberg of Forest Hills, called the Lachmans a "decent" couple who let "emotions get in the way of rational thinking." Thousands of dollars were missing, but what affected his client the most was the gold chain, which was to be a gift for one of his two young children, the attorney said.

"This is not characteristic of him," Greenberg said. "He's extremely remorseful . . .  If their emotions didn't interfere, they would have gone to the police."

Greenberg said his client denies punching and burning his housekeeper and that was done by the other man, who was not named by authorities.

Ambar Lachman's attorney did not immediately return a call Tuesday night.

"The defendants suspected their housekeeper — who had been working for them for several months — had stolen from their home," District Attorney Richard A. Brown said in a press release. "But the real crime in this case occurred when the defendants decided to take the law into their own hands by abducting the woman."