A Florida man was arrested for allegedly performing an illegal castration surgery on another man who he had met on a fetish website for eunuchs, authorities said Tuesday.
"This one is a little … let’s just say sensitive," Highlands County Sheriff's Department said in a statement. "You could even say it’s kinda nuts."
A deputy went to a home just before midnight on Aug. 18, checking on an aborted 911 call in Sebring, about 90 miles southeast of Tampa, officials said.
The door was answered by Gary Van Ryswyk, 74, and he told the deputy he had just performed a castration, as deputies "found the man on the bed with a towel over his groin, which was bleeding heavily," according to a Highland County Sheriff'd Department statement.
"Nearby, there was a pink container which held two body parts that had recently been much closer to the victim," the sheriff statement continued. "The victim was taken to the hospital and was later flown to a regional medical center."
The victim is in stable condition, according to the sheriff's office.
Van Ryswyk made an operating room in his own house, complete with medical equipment, painkillers and a camera to record the procedure, officials said. Van Ryswyk told investigators he had met the victim on a dark web castration fetish site called eunuch.com, authorities said.
The suspect told the victim that he's performed castration on animals and had even removed one of his own testicles in 2012, according to the sheriff.
"He also said he had done a similar procedure on a man in a local motel a few years ago that turned out pretty much like this one, but couldn’t remember the other man’s name," the sheriff said. "The man went to the hospital, but law enforcement was not notified."
Van Ryswyk was booked Monday on suspicion of felony practicing medicine without a license resulting in bodily injury, a second-degree felony. His bond was set at $250,000.
The sheriff's office added: "Van Ryswyk had dropped the ball on this one."
