Deputies responding to a hang-up 911 call were stunned to learn a Florida man had performed a castration on another man that did not end well, according to the Highland County Sheriff's Office.
The Sheriff’s Office said Gary Jon Van Ryswyk, 74, was arrested Monday at a home in Sebring after they found the other man bleeding heavily in a room that was set up to resemble a surgical center with medical equipment and painkillers.
Deputies said there was a camera in the room recording the procedure.
Van Ryswyk told deputies he had met the victim on a site on the dark web that caters to people with a castration fetish, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“He told the victim that he had experience on animals and had even removed one of his own testicles in 2012,” a news release said.
The victim was taken to the hospital and was later flown to a regional medical center. He is listed in stable condition.
The news release also said Van Ryswyk told deputies he had performed a similar procedure on a man in a motel a few years ago that also ended badly. That man went to the hospital, but law enforcement officers were not notified.
Van Ryswyk was charged with practicing medicine without a license, resulting in bodily injury, which is a second-degree felony. His bail was set at $250,000.
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