Recent Posts in Kidnapping Category

A Garden Grove man was sentenced to four years, four months in a California State prison for kidnapping his daughter and assaulting her mother with a handgun in Lake Forest. The assault occurred during a custody drop-off in the mother's home, where Daniel Chomina was angered at seeing a male friend at the home.

He was accused of pointing a handgun at the girl's mother and her male friend at the home and then hitting the man with the gun. When the two locked themselves inside the home, Chomina broke in, took his 3-year-old daughter, and fled. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge sentenced him to four years and four months in prison.

After driving away in his car, he called his former girlfriend and agreed to leave their daughter with his mother at an Anaheim restaurant. Chomina was facing 15 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of assault with a firearm, a misdemeanor count of being in possession of a firearm, and felony counts of kidnapping and first-degree burglary.

Kidnapping is defined as using force or threats of force to take a person against their will. Abducting an individual by force and holding them against their will could result in being charged for felony kidnapping. Regardless of your relationship to the victim, the consequences of your actions will be prosecuted aggressively.

If you have been charged or under investigation for kidnapping, it is critical that you obtain an experienced Los Angeles kidnapping criminal defense lawyer right away. At Marks & Brooklier, our law firm will specially design a top legal team who will defend you against these charges. Attorneys  Donald Marks and  Anthony Brooklier are skilled kidnapping criminal defense attorneys, who will ensure you receive the legal assistance you need to aggressively fight your criminal charges.  Call our office today to schedule a free consultation.

A Santa Ana man was charged with abducting and raping a 16-year-old girl as she was walking home from a fast-food restaurant. Police were led to Juan Humberto Avila, from DNA collected after he was convicted of a federal weapons charge in Ariznoa.

The girl was walking home after meeting friends at an In-and-Out Burger in Santa Ana about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2008, when her attacker jumped on her and punched her, according to prosecutors. Avila allegedly dragged the girl across the street while threatening to stab her to death if she screamed. He allegedly forced her behind large storage containers at the rear of a parking lot, where he repeatedly raped and sodomized the teenager before forcing her to orally copulate him.

Avila stole the girl's bank card before fleeing. She ran home and reported the assault to the Santa Ana Police Department. Prosecutors said DNA was recovered from the girl during a medical rape examination, but the case remained cold until recently, when the recovered DNA was matched to Avila's.

Avila is charged with felony sexual penetration by a foreign object by force and two felony counts each of forcible rape, sodomy by force and forcible oral copulation. He is also accused of inflicting great bodily injury and kidnapping. Avila has a previous strike against him from a 1997 conviction for participating in a criminal street gang. He faces a maximum sentence of 355 years to life in state prison if convicted. Prosecutors planned to request that Avila be held on $2-million bail.

If you have been charged with a rape or kidnapping, you will need the services of a Los Angeles rape criminal defense lawyer who has the special knowledge of this area of the law. At Marks & Brooklier, attorneys Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier are qualified Los Angeles and Beverly Hills sex crimes lawyers to represent you. You will need the over 33 years of experience that our law firm can provide you with. Our legal team has handled high profile cases involving rape and kidnapping with great success and can do the same for you. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7, strictly confidential.

With the invaluable cooperation of the Greek and Dutch governments, fugitive brothers John and George Silah were arrested in the Netherlands after being sought by the FBI since 2008 for removing their children from the United States without the consent of their custodial mothers, announced the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI office in Los Angeles.

John Silah and George Silah were wanted for the July 2008 abduction of their children from their homes in Los Angeles, California. A state arrest warrant for parental abduction was issued by Los Angeles County on July 31, 2008. A federal arrest warrant was issued for the Silah brothers on October 15, 2008 by the United States District Court, Central District of California, after they were charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

After following domestic and international leads in this investigation, agents with the FBI and detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department directed their focus overseas. Several months ago, the investigation led to the area of Athens, Greece. Greek law enforcement officers conducted an exhaustive investigation that led them to the Netherlands, where they collaborated with Dutch law enforcement. The investigative efforts of law enforcement in Greece and the Netherlands resulted in the identification of the Silah brothers and the victim children.

Once the whereabouts of the brothers and the children were known, agents in Los Angeles obtained a provisional arrest warrant that enabled law enforcement in the Netherlands to carry out the arrest of the brothers and to safely recover the children on Tuesday, November 2. The successful arrests and recovery of the children would not have been possible without the international cooperation of the following law enforcement agencies and organizations:

The Hellenic National Police, Attica HQ, Athens, Greece & Juvenile Crimes Unit
The Netherlands Police Agency (KLPD)
Dutch National Prosecutor’s Office
The Los Angeles Police Department
The United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles
The United States Department of State
The District Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles County
Agents with the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office
FBI's Legal Attaché in Athens, Greece
FBI’s Legal Attaché Sub-Office in The Hague, Netherlands
Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Association for the Recovery of Children
Find the Children of Santa Monica

The victim children are being held by Dutch family protective services. FBI agents will travel with the victims’ mothers to the Netherlands to reunite them with their children. The Silah brothers are being held in the custody of Dutch police based on the provisional arrest warrant issued in the United States. There are pending state and federal charges for the Silah brothers. The United States government will seek justice for the victims, working cooperatively with our international partners.

If you have been arrested, or under investigation for parental kidnapping, its important that you consult experienced legal counsel. Criminal defense attorneys Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier will specially design a top legal team who will assist you in your parental kidnapping case. The Law Offices of Marks & Brooklier have experienced kidnapping criminal defense lawyers, who will ensure you receive the legal assistance you need.

Do not let any time go by without contacting a Los Angeles and United States parental kidnapping criminal defense attorney from the Law Offices of Marks & Brooklier to defend you against these charges. We will provide you with a strong defense and fully investigate all aspects of the kidnapping case and dispute any evidence brought against you immediately.

Although based in Los Angeles, we represent clients throughout the United States. Contact our office for a free consultation, 24/7.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation to put some sex offenders in prison for life at a bittersweet ceremony for family and friends of a 17-year-girl who was killed after being abducted while running less than seven months ago.

Chelsea's Law is named for Chelsea King, who was murdered by 31-year-old convicted child molester John Gardner. He was sentenced to life in prison fter pleading guilty to murdering Chelsea and 14-year-old Amber Dubois. "Because of Chelsea, California's children will be safer. Because of Chelsea, this never has to happen again," said Schwarzenegger, an early backer of the legislation.

The ceremony began under a light drizzle then gave way to sunshine at an outdoor theater in Balboa Park, where Chelsea played French horn for the San Diego Youth Symphony. Many of the 200 people in the audience carried sunflowers, her favorite flower.

Brent and Kelly King, who traveled from their new home in suburban Chicago, thanked lawmakers for speeding the bill through the Legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support. Brent King said he was initially skeptical about the bill's prospects and had been preparing to sponsor a ballot initiative. Kelly King said the lawmakers were an example for young people.

The Kings, in an interview, said they plan to promote similar legislation in other states and have tentatively targeted Texas, Florida, Colorado and Ohio, the scenes of high-profile child abductions. They have not settled on a timetable.

The Kings have not been considering their new home state of Illinois for legislation because they want to shield their 14-year-old son Tyler from the spotlight. The avid baseball player has recently shown renewed interest in the game.

The Kings plan to use their nonprofit foundation, Chelsea's Light, to promote peer counseling programs  and to offer scholarships for college and other programs.

Chelsea's Law allows life without parole sentences for adult predators who kidnap, drug, bind, torture or use a weapon while committing a sex crime against a child. Life terms could be ordered for first-time and repeat offenders.

It also increases other penalties for child molesters, including requiring lifetime parole with GPS tracking for people convicted of forcible sex crimes against children under 14. Previous law permitted lifetime GPS monitoring, but most tracking ended when offenders leave parole.

Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the San Diego Republican who spearheaded the Chelsea's Law legislation, said in an interview it would have resulted in a longer prison sentence, possibly life, and longer parole for Gardner in 2000 for molesting a 13-year-old neighbor. Gardner served five years of a six-year sentence and repeatedly violated parole. Supporters came to the ceremony wearing T-shirts with one of Chelsea's favorite quotations, "They can because they think they can," from the Roman poet Virgil.

If you have been arrested with a sex crime, you will need to consult a Los Angeles sex crime criminal defense lawyer who has the special knowledge of this area of the law. Attorneys Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier are qualified Los Angeles and Beverly Hills sex crimes criminal attorneys to defend you. You will need the over 33 years of experience that our law firm can provide you with. Contact us for a free consultation, 24/7, strictly confidential.

Two Los Angeles-Area men found guilty for role in Kidnapping of California man who was shot, shocked with taser and held for $1 million ransom.

A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted two men on kidnapping charges for abducting a Van Nuys, California., man who was shot, shocked with a taser and held captive for five days while his kidnappers attempted to negotiate a $1 million ransom payment. The jury convicted the two men after approximately two days of deliberation.

Vagan Adzhemyan, 41, of Costa Mesa, Calif.; Suren Garibyan, 32, of North Hollywood, Calif.; and Galvin Shaun Gibson, 30, of Mira Loma, Calif., were charged in August 2009 with conspiracy to commit kidnapping and kidnapping. In addition, Gibson was charged with manufacturing marijuana and being a felon in possession of ammunition. Adzhemyan and Gibson were found guilty of conspiring to commit kidnapping and kidnapping. Gibson was also found guilty of manufacturing marijuana at the house in Mira Loma where he was holding the victim at the time he was rescued. Adzhemyan and Gibson were initially tried in federal court in January 2010, but a mistrial was declared when the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.

According to evidence presented during this two-week trial, Adzhemyan and Garibyan abducted the victim in the parking garage of the victim’s mother’s house in Van Nuys in the early morning hours of July 29, 2009. During the abduction, the victim was shot and shocked with a taser before he was forced into a waiting vehicle, while an associate of the victim’s was violently assaulted by the kidnappers. In the process of abducting him, the victim was accidentally shot by his friend,  a gunshot wound that caused extensive bleeding and ripped through the victim’s intestines. The kidnapping victim was bound and forced to wear a blindfold as he was held at various locations in southern California during the next five days. During the time that the victim was held captive, the kidnappers directed him to use cellular telephones to make calls to family members and close associates in the Los Angeles area and in Russia in order to secure a $1 million ransom in exchange for the victim’s safe release.

The captors withheld necessary medical treatment for the victim’s life-threatening gunshot wound. In addition, the kidnappers repeatedly beat the victim during the course of his captivity and focused their beatings on the victim’s stomach area, which was most affected by his gunshot wound.

Adzhemyan, Garibyan and Gibson were taken into custody on Aug. 3, 2009, when the victim was rescued from Gibson’s Mira Loma residence by a team of Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officers. The victim was found lying on an air mattress, unable to move on his own. According to testimony at trial, officers were able to locate both the kidnappers and the place where the kidnappers were hiding the victim following an extensive undercover surveillance operation conducted by the LAPD. The victim was hospitalized for more than one month after he was rescued and underwent three surgeries during his hospitalization.

Trial evidence also showed that Adzhemyan and Garibyan used the victim’s ATM card to withdraw the maximum amount of cash from the victim’s bank account on three separate occasions while he was being held in captivity.

At sentencing, scheduled for Aug. 2, 2010, Adzhemyan and Gibson each face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Garibyan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping on Dec. 30, 2009. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 24, 2010. The case was prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Violent and Organized Crime Section in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California The investigation was conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division and the FBI’s Violent Crimes Squad.

If you have been arrested, or under investigation for kidnapping, its critical that you obtain experienced legal counsel in the Los Angeles area. At Marks & Brooklier, our law firm will specially design a top legal team who will assist you in your kidnapping case.  The Law Offices of Marks & Brooklier have experienced kidnapping criminal defense attorneys, who will ensure you receive the legal assistance you need.

Do not let any time go by without contacting a Los Angeles and United States kidnapping criminal defense lawyer from the Law Offices of Marks & Brooklier to defend you against these charges. We will provide you with a strong defense and fully investigate all aspects of the kidnapping case and dispute any evidence brought against you immediately.

Although based in Los Angeles, we represent clients throughout the United States. Contact our office for a free consultation, 24/7.