A kidnapped man was found bound and gagged in a police detective’s garage in Queens, leading to the detective’s suspension and the arrest of four other men, the authorities said on Saturday.
The detective, identified by the police as Ondre Johnson, a 17-year veteran of the New York Police Department and a member of a Brooklyn gang investigation unit, told investigators that he did not use the garage and knew nothing about the abduction.
For now, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the case, investigators decided they did not have enough evidence to arrest Mr. Johnson.
“A decision was made last night not to lock him up,” the official said. “What you have is an enormous amount of suspicion, but not the hard evidence tying him into it.”
The police found the kidnapping victim on Friday afternoon after tracing a ransom demand made from a telephone being used at Mr. Johnson’s home on 181st Street in Springfield Gardens, Queens.
When officers arrived, they discovered the victim, whose name was not released, in the single-car garage, which is detached from the house at the end of a short driveway.
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