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Man Charged In In-Laws' Attacks

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

TAMPA - Grigori and Galina Komissarchuk didn't want their daughter and son-in-law to move in to their house in 2000, and argued with them for six years trying to get them to leave.

Finally, the Komissarchuks agreed to give Alex and Emilia Shevgert $100,000 for a down payment toward a new home, and the couple moved out in 2006.

But son-in-law Alex Shevgert was angry, according to a federal affidavit, so he hired people to attack his in-laws.

The Komissarchuks, ages 70 and 65, have homes in Sarasota and in Brooklyn, N.Y., and were attacked at least four times at their homes and other places, according to federal court records. One time the attacker used a hammer. Both of them suffered skull fractures and other injuries.

On Tuesday, federal investigators arrested Shevgert, charging him with aiding or abetting another to travel across state lines with intent to kill, injure or harass another person. U.S. Magistrate Thomas Wilson ordered Shevgert held without bail.
Federal authorities previously arrested Edmon Vardanyan of Tampa and charged him with traveling in interstate commerce with the intent to kill, injure or harass, according to a federal complaint. Agents also charged Larik Cholak and Sergey Zub in the plot.

The victims and the suspects in the case are immigrants from Russia and other former Soviet republics.

$10,000 Price Tags
Vardanyan told investigators he was hired to kill the Komissarchuks because they refused to pay a debt, the complaint states. He told investigators he was paid between $800 and $1,000 and had been offered $10,000 each to kill the couple.

According to Tuesday's complaint, Shevgert met Cholak while both were working for a taxi service in Sarasota in 2005. Shevgert asked Cholak about "scaring" people in New York who owed him money, the complaint states. Cholak agreed to find someone willing to attack the people.

Shevgert told Cholak that his in-laws owed him money from a business they had together and he wanted to send them a message that they needed to pay, according to the complaint. Shevgert promised Cholak that once he got money from the Komissarchuks, he would make Cholak a 50-50 partner in a business he was going to start, the complaint states.

"The investigation revealed that Grigori and Galina Komissarchuk have never been in business with Alex Shevgert," the complaint states. "Instead, the Komissarchuks have provided monetary support to Alex Shevgert and his family for much of Alex Shevgert's married life. The support has included the purchase of businesses to include bread routes, restaurants and a shoe store."

According to federal complaints, in September 2006, the day after an aborted attack, Grigori Komissarchuk was beaten unconscious while returning to his car in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Brooklyn, the complaint says.

It says Komissarchuk required surgery for internal injuries, had facial fractures and was in the hospital for two weeks.

More Beatings

On Dec. 6, 2006, the Komissarchuks were returning to their Sarasota home from dinner with the Shevgerts when an assailant with a hammer ducked under their closing garage door.

He attacked Galina Komissarchuk, and as her husband attempted to shield her, the attacker beat them both, the complaint states.
Grigori Komissarchuk then cornered the man in the Jacuzzi room, and the attacker hit him on the head with the hammer before running away, the complaint says.
Grigori Komissarchuk suffered a skull fracture, cuts on his head and arm bruises. Galina Komissarchuk suffered two cuts on her head and bruises on her arms and face.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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