Crime & Safety

Kidnappers of Sherman Oaks Man Sentenced

Two defendants receive long sentences for kidnapping and other crimes.

 City News Service

Two Southlanders were each sentenced today to more than 25 years in federal prison for kidnapping a Russian man who was shot from behind, zapped with a Taser and held captive for nearly a week while his abductors demanded a $1 million ransom.

Vagan Adzhemyan, 43, of Costa Mesa was handed a 30-year sentence by U.S.
District Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen, who said the defendant stalked the
victim, planned and carried out the kidnapping and orchestrated the ransom
demand.

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Galvin ``Shaun'' Gibson, 33, of Mira Loma was sentenced to 27 years
behind bars for his role in the 2009 kidnapping of Sandro Karmryan, a former
Sherman Oaks resident involved in the real estate business.

Both defendants were convicted by a Los Angeles federal jury in May 2010
of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The charges carry a
maximum life penalty.

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During the three-hour sentencing hearing, Adzhemyan's attorney argued
that the abduction was justified because his client was trying to protect
himself from what he believed to be a Russian mafia hit placed on him by
Karmryan.

``He did what he believed he had to do ... to protect himself,'' defense
attorney Harland Braun told the court. ``This was a kidnapping designed for
self-defense. ... What else was he to do?''

Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada countered that there is no
evidence that Karmryan threatened anyone, calling the need for kidnapping as
self-defense ``absolutely absurd.''

Through an Armenian translator, a heated Adzhemyan told the judge that
Karmryan was kidnapped because ``I was trying to save my life.''
If Karmryan had not been taken hostage, ``I would've been dead three or
four years ago,'' Adzhemyan said.

Gibson, Adzhemyan and a third defendent, Suren Garibyan, were arrested
in August 2009, when the victim was rescued from Gibson's home by a team of Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officers.

Karmryan had been shot in the buttocks, and the bullet had traveled
upward in his body, causing internal injuries, according to the prosecution. At
the time he was rescued, Karmryan ``was on the verge of death,'' Nguyen said
today.

Adzhemyan, who was described as a onetime championship wrestler in the
former Soviet Union, ``acted completely without a conscience or remorse ...
even after learning how close the victim was to dying,'' the judge said.

``Even if Mr. Karmryan was the world's greatest fraudster, nobody
deserves'' what happened to him, Nguyen said.

In sentencing Gibson, the judge said that while the defendant played a
slightly lesser role in the scheme, ``you did participate knowingly and
willingly.''

Nguyen said she had also taken into consideration Gibson's previous
conviction for manslaughter.

In a tearful statement to the court, Gibson said he had ``destroyed''
his own life by allowing himself to be ``placed in a situation that doesn't
concern me.''

During trial, jurors heard evidence that Adzhemyan and Garibyan grabbed
Karmryan from the underground parking garage of a Van Nuys apartment complex in the early morning hours of July 29, 2009. Over the next five days, they and Gibson held him at various Southland locations and kept him bound and
blindfolded, the victim testified.

During the time he was held captive, the kidnappers forced Karmryan to
call family members and associates in California and Russia to plead for a $1
million ransom in exchange for his release, according to Assistant U.S.
Attorney Robert E. Dugdale.

Adzhemyan used Karmryan's ATM card to withdraw cash from his bank
account, while Gibson and his three pit bulls guarded the victim in Mira Loma,
according to testimony presented at trial.

Garibyan, 34, of North Hollywood pleaded guilty and was sentenced by
Nguyen last year to more than 17 years in prison.

City News Service





















CNS-02-13-2012 15:18


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