Kidnap suspects face life

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.

Adzhemyan and Gibson are accused of ambushing their victim in the underground parking garage of his Los Angeles apartment complex, shooting him, blindfolding him and whisking him away in a van.

Over the next couple of days, according to Garibyan’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors, the men moved him from location to location in Southern California, including Adzhemyan’s Costa Mesa home.

Meanwhile, they forced the victim to call family in Southern California and Russia, saying he would be released for $1 million.

The man’s family in Russia had caller ID and sent the phone number displayed to Los Angeles police, who used that along with other information to find the kidnappers, authorities said.

According to Garibyan’s court documents, the men beat up their victim and forced him to turn over his PIN for his bank account.

Adzhemyan was arrested in a local supermarket parking lot after allegedly trying to use the PIN.

The kidnapped man was rescued by police when the Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team raided a home in Mira Loma.

Prosecutors said police found the man bound and blindfolded on a mattress on the first floor. He was suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, and a dog was guarding him.