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Driver Testifies About Attacks On Defendant's In-Laws

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2008

Updated: 11/06/2008 06:17 pm

TAMPA - After beating up Grigori Komissarchuk in the parking lot of a New York Home Depot, Edmon Vardanyan jumped into a rented minivan, shaking.

"Let's get the hell out of here," he said, according to Larik Cholak, who said he was the driver.

Cholak was testifying today in the trial of Alex Shevgert, Komissarchuk's son-in-law, who is accused of orchestrating attacks on his in-laws in New York and Sarasota because they stopped giving him money after they funded a series of failed businesses and bought him a house.

Cholak has pleaded guilty in the plot and is cooperating with the prosecution in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence. Vardanyan has also pleaded guilty, but has not agreed to cooperate.

Cholak said he knew Shevgert because the two worked together at an airport limousine business. Shevgert asked him to help attack the Komissarchuks because he wanted money from them, Cholak said.

Cholak said he agreed to act as the middleman, and found Vardanyan. After an aborted attack in New York, Cholak and Vardanyan watched the Komissarchuks' house and followed Grigori Komissarchuk to the Home Depot, Cholak said.

They waited while he went into the store. "When he got back to his vehicle, Mr. Vardanyan opened the sliding door on the van and jumped him and started beating him," Cholak said. "I saw Mr. Komissarchuk go down. I saw the back of Mr. Vardanyan in the side mirror."

Cholak said Shevgert met him at Tampa International Airport when they returned. He said he sent Vardanyan to another part of the airport because Shevgert didn't want any direct contact between him and the attacker. Shevgert gave Cholak $1,000 for Vardanyan, the second half of his payment, Cholak said.

A few days or a week later, Shevgert told Cholak he was "not totally satisfied with that attack because his mother-in-law did not get hurt," Cholak said. Shevgert wanted another attack, but Cholak said he resisted.

"I was very against it," he said. "I was afraid I was going to get caught. … I said, 'I simply cannot do anything. I will give you the phone number of Mr. Vardanyan and you can deal with him without me.' … I thought this whole thing is a mistake."

But Cholak said he agreed to help, and found another person to drive Vardanyan in New York, but that attack didn't work out because the driver was too paranoid and nervous.

Shevgert, he said, asked him to drive Vardanyan for another attack. He "told me his parents-in-law were coming back to Sarasota. He was actually begging me to be the driver." Cholak said he said no, but Shevgert was "nagging and begging" him every day at work, so he agreed to it.

Shevgert, he said, told him that the Komissarchuks were coming to the Shevgerts' house for a party, and that the attack could take place when they returned to their Sarasota house.

Cholak said he drove Vardanyan to the neighborhood, and they waited for the Komissarchuks to arrive. Vardanyan took a rubber hammer, gloves and a mask and went into the house while Cholak waited in the van, he said.

The house alarm started sounding, and Cholak said he started driving away slowly, with the van's sliding door opened. "Vardanyan came running and jumped in the van."

Later, he said, Shevgert complained that his mother-in-law wasn't hurt enough. "I got upset that nothing satisfied this guy," Cholak said. "I was already sorry I got myself into this. … I told him he's out of his mind, basically."

This time, Shevgert found another driver, Cholak said, and he gave him Vardanyan's phone number.

After that last attack in New York, Vardanyan called Cholak. "He said he almost got caught," Cholak testified. "I said, 'Don't say anymore.' "

He later learned Vardanyan had told New York police who stopped him and the driver that he was a gay prostitute.

The driver in that final attack, Sergey Zub, has also pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate.

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