Kidnapping case goes to second trial

After the first trial ended in a hung jury, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles will prosecute a Costa Mesa man and his accused accomplice for a second time next month for allegedly shooting and kidnapping a Russian man, authorities announced Monday.

The trial for Vagan Adzhemyan of Costa Mesa, and Galvin Gibson of Mira Loma, is scheduled for April 20 in Los Angeles federal court. The first jury ended up deadlocked 6-6, and the judge declared a mistrial, said Harland Braun, Adzhemyan’s defense attorney.

Adzhemyan, Gibson and a third man approached the victim in the underground parking garage of his apartment complex and shot him in the buttocks and kidnapped him, according to allegations made by the prosecution. The men allegedly blindfolded and bound him, whisked him away in a van and moved him to multiple locations over the next several days, authorities said.

Braun said the victim had hired someone to kill Adzhemyan, a claim prosecutors denied.

Once the men kidnapped the victim, they contacted his friends and family in Russia and demanded a $1-million ransom for his release, federal prosecutors allege. Those who were called in Russia identified the phone number from which the kidnappers were calling and turned it over to the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the criminal complaint.

The LAPD’s SWAT team raided a home in Mira Loma days after the kidnapping and rescued the victim, who was still suffering from his untreated gunshot wound and was being guarded by three pit bulls. A section of his bowel had to be removed to save his life, officials said.

The third man arrested in the case pleaded guilty last year. Adzhemyan and Gibson were arrested in a Costa Mesa supermarket parking lot. Authorities said they found 40 cell phones and a fake Armenian passport for Adzhemyan in the car.

The U.S. attorney’s office violent and organized crime unit is prosecuting the case.