Trial date set in shooting

The trial for a Costa Mesa man and two accomplices who allegedly shot and kidnapped a man for $1 million begins Dec. 8 in federal court in Santa Ana.

Vagan Adzhemyan, 41, of Costa Mesa; Suren Garibyan, 32, of North Hollywood; and Galvin Shaun Gibson, 30, of Mira Loma will stand trial for allegedly kidnapping and shooting a Russian man and nearly causing his death.

According to a federal indictment unsealed in August, the group attacked the man and his friend July 29 in an underground parking garage in Los Angeles County. The victim, identified only as S.K. in court documents, was shot and stunned with a Taser while his friend escaped, federal authorities said.

Like something out of a movie, S.K. was whisked away in a van, tied up and taken to a secret location, officials said. According to the indictment, S.K. was left in a bottom-floor bedroom on a mattress guarded by three pit bulls. Authorities said his kidnappers gave him minimal treatment for his gunshot, which had ruptured his bowel.

Over the next few days, the kidnappers called S.K.’s family in Russia demanding $1 million for his release. The family gave the number that came up on their caller ID to authorities in Los Angeles who used it along with other information to track down Adzhemyan and his accomplices, court documents show.

Adzhemyan and Garibyan were arrested in a Costa Mesa supermarket parking lot Aug. 3. Authorities found more than 40 cell phones, a fake passport and S.K.’s ATM card. Just hours before the $1-million deadline, a SWAT team raided the house in Mira Loma, rescued S.K. and arrested Gibson, prosecutors said.

They found bullets and 90 marijuana plants inside the house, court documents show.

The defendants face life in prison if convicted on all counts.