Kidnapping

Opening statements began Wednesday in the trial against a Newport Beach woman charged with asking a private investigator to kidnap her son. Niveen Ismail, 45, wanted her 7-year-old out of foster care so the two could flee to Europe or the Middle East, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office. According to prosecutors, in 2009 she offered an investigator a large sum of money for him to kidnap the boy from his Lake Forest foster family and take him to Tijuana.

Costa Mesa police arrested a man Thursday on suspicion of kidnapping and assaulting his ex-wife's boyfriend. Carmen Mendez-Silva, 34, of Santa Ana and a second man beat the victim with a pipe or bat Wednesday and threatened him with further harm if he did not move out of his Costa Mesa apartment, police said. The victim was then allegedly placed in the trunk of a car and driven to Huntington Beach, where he was released. Police were initially called to the Fillmore Way home of Mendez-Silva's ex-wife on a child custody issue.

A Laguna Hills man pleaded not guilty Monday to allegations that he plotted to have an underage teenage relative - who he allegedly raped - kidnapped and taken to Mexico, according to the Orange County Superior Court website. Jesus Acosta, 58, is charged with 11 felonies, including soliciting to commit kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, rape, incest, dissuading a witness by force or threat and making criminal threats. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of violating a protective order.

Authorities this week took three people into custody in connection with the kidnapping, torture and genital mutilation of a Newport Beach man last year, prosecutors announced. Newport Beach police detectives arrested Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 34, and Naomi Josette Kevorkian, 33, in Fresno Friday. FBI agents arrested Hossein Nayeri, 34, Thursday in Prague, Czech Republic, where he is facing extradition, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. Police first arrested Kyle Shirakawa Handley of Fountain Valley in October 2012 in connection with the crime after his name was linked to a suspicious car parked outside the victim's home on the day of the alleged kidnapping.

A Costa Mesa man will face life in prison when he’s sentenced in August for kidnapping a Russian man and holding him for a $1-million ransom. Vagan Adzhemyan, 41, was convicted Monday of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping along with his accomplice, Galvin Shaun Gibson, 30, of Mira Loma. The two will be sentenced Aug. 2 in federal court in Santa Ana. The two men, along with Suren Garibyan, 32, of North Hollywood, kidnapped a Van Nuys man in July at his mother’s apartment complex and held him for ransom.

A Costa Mesa pair pleaded not guilty Thursday to kidnapping and extortion after police said the two were part of a group that threatened a woman trying to buy drugs in a Costa Mesa home. Juan Pablo Ojeda, 21, and Juanita Eileen Ortiz Carillo, 36, are charged with five felonies, including kidnapping for extortion or ransom, assault with a firearm and sale and possession of a controlled substance, all with sentencing enhancements for allegedly being gang-related. According to police, the two were part of a group that trapped a girl inside a Costa Mesa home on Victoria Street on Dec. 17. When the woman went in to buy drugs, Ojeda pulled a gun and pointed it at her head while Carrillo and another closed the door behind her, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor.

A Costa Mesa man and his co-defendant are scheduled to go on trial Jan. 19 for allegedly shooting and kidnapping a man and holding him for a $1-million ransom in Los Angeles County, prosecutors said Friday. Vagan Adzhemyan, of Costa Mesa, and Galvin Shaun Gibson, of Mira Loma, face life in prison if convicted of federal kidnapping charges, among others, for the July kidnapping of a Russian man. A third man, Suren Garibyan of North Hollywood, pleaded guilty Dec. 30 to his role in the plot and faces 17 years and six months in prison as part of a plea deal with prosecutors.

A Costa Mesa man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Monday for his role in a kidnapping and ransom plot that spanned the Southland. Vagan Adzhemyan, 44, was convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping. His two partners, Galvin Shaun Gibson, 33, of Mira Loma and Suren Garibyan, 34, of North Hollywood received sentences of 27 years and about 17 years, respectively. The office of the U.S. attorney's violent and organized crime unit prosecuted the case.

Young Chang Sheranne Kemme was handing out bread Wednesday to a little boy she didn't know when suddenly she, a parent to 8-year-old triplets, was made to feel like the bad guy. The parents of the little boy panicked after seeing their son, who wanted to feed nearby birds, taking bread from a stranger. They urged him to "get back here." "Here I am, with my three kids, I'm a mom, and they're worried about me," Kemme said at TeWinkle Park in Costa Mesa.

Newport Beach police Friday arrested a man suspected of kidnapping a woman from the Balboa Peninsula and holding her at gunpoint. Bradley John King, 42, of Rhode Island, was arguing with a woman while they were out for dinner and drinks Thursday evening, Newport police said. When the argument escalated, King allegedly forced her into his car near 28th Street and Balboa Boulevard at about 7:15 p.m., police added. When she tried to escape, King pointed a gun at the victim's head and forced her to stay in the car while he drove to Anaheim, according to police.

Authorities this week took three people into custody in connection with the kidnapping, torture and genital mutilation of a Newport Beach man last year, prosecutors announced. Newport Beach police detectives arrested Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 34, and Naomi Josette Kevorkian, 33, in Fresno Friday. FBI agents arrested Hossein Nayeri, 34, Thursday in Prague, Czech Republic, where he is facing extradition, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. Police first arrested Kyle Shirakawa Handley of Fountain Valley in October 2012 in connection with the crime after his name was linked to a suspicious car parked outside the victim's home on the day of the alleged kidnapping.

Costa Mesa police have arrested a man accused of kidnapping and assaulting his estranged wife, whom he suspected was in a relationship with another man. Martin Neas, 36, allegedly stalked his wife - who had a restraining order against him - and followed her to a drug store in Santa Ana just before midnight Thursday. As the woman tried to leave in her Mini Cooper, Neas pushed her into the car's passenger seat and assaulted her, leaving her with bruises and swelling on her face and leg, police said.

A Laguna Hills man pleaded not guilty Monday to allegations that he plotted to have an underage teenage relative - who he allegedly raped - kidnapped and taken to Mexico, according to the Orange County Superior Court website. Jesus Acosta, 58, is charged with 11 felonies, including soliciting to commit kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, rape, incest, dissuading a witness by force or threat and making criminal threats. He also faces a misdemeanor charge of violating a protective order.

Months before a Newport Beach man was kidnapped and severely beaten last year, he had traveled to Las Vegas with a business acquaintance he knew from his Orange County medical marijuana dispensary, according to court testimony given Wednesday by police detectives who investigated the attack. On that trip to the desert, the Balboa Peninsula resident spent tens of thousands of dollars on hotel suites and gambling and allegedly paid for his associate to have a massage that included a sexual act, according to the Newport Beach Police detectives.

A man accused of molesting a minor was arrested by Costa Mesa police for attempting to have the teenage girl kidnapped, which would have prevented her from testifying against him, police said Thursday. Jesus Acosta-Inchaorrondo, 58, of Laguna Hills is being held without bail on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime, soliciting criminal acts and attempted kidnapping, according to the Costa Mesa Police Department. A man called police saying Acosta-Inchaorrondo tried to pay him to take the girl - a relative of the suspect - to Mexico.

Additional details emerged this week about a Newport Beach kidnapping that left two adult victims bound in the Mojave Desert, court documents show. A Balboa Peninsula resident spotted the three presumed kidnappers unload a ladder from a truck and lean it against the victim's home in the 100 block of 25th Street before the kidnapping occurred, according to public records the Newport Beach Police Department filed. The suspects extended the ladder to the home's third-story deck and appeared to prepare for work, records show.

Two adults were kidnapped in Newport Beach earlier this month and later discovered bound and beaten in Kern County, according to court documents reviewed by the Daily Pilot and follow-up interviews with police. Newport Beach Police arrested Kyle Shirakawa Handley Oct. 6 in connection with the crime, Lt. Jon Lewis confirmed Friday, but two other suspects remain at large. Handley, 33, of Fountain Valley, is being held at Orange County Jail and faces charges of kidnapping for ransom, torture, aggravated mayhem and burglary with sentencing enhancements for inflicting great bodily injury.

A Costa Mesa police officer fired his gun Tuesday night at two suspects, one of whom was wanted on suspicion of kidnapping. While investigating the alleged kidnapping, Santa Ana police discovered the last known address for Juan Manuel Reyes, 31, was in the 3000 block of Coolidge Avenue. They alerted Costa Mesa police. Reyes is suspected of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint in her 2007 Toyota Camry on Aug. 30 and taking her for 11 days to various motels around Santa Ana, according to Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna.