Four of six suspects in Shelby Twp. gym abduction face circuit court hearing
Four of six defendants accused in last year's violent kidnapping and torture of a Sterling Heights man outside of a Shelby Township gym have been bound over to face charges in Macomb County Court Circuit in Mount Clemens.
The four suspects waived their preliminary examinations that were scheduled for last month in 41A District Court in Shelby Township for the incident last October outside of the Lifetime Fitness on Lakeside Boulevard north of Hall Road.
Facing an Oct. 21 pretrial in front of circuit Judge Joseph Toia are Angel Pantoja, 22; Angel Antonio Andujar-Ruiz, 34; Renado Gary Coleman, 39; and Romeo Osorio, 24. They all are from Tampa, Fla.
Xavier Chase Gardner, 30, is undergoing a mental competency evaluation and does not have a hearing date in district court.
Arraignment in the case of the sixth defendant, Kyle Richard Miller, 33, has been held but he is currently in New York City facing drug charges.
Coleman, Gardner and Miller face 12 counts in all: carjacking, armed robbery, home invasion and unlawful imprisonment for which they also face conspiracy charges. They also are charged one count of torture and three counts of felony firearm.
Andujar-Ruiz faces the same charges except each of his three conspiracy charges is a misdemeanor.
Pantoja and Osorio face eight counts: carjacking, armed robbery and unlawful imprisonment, with accompanying conspiracy charges, as well as torture and home invasion. Pantoja faces a new charged of possessing a weapon in jail for which he faces an Oct. 8 hearing in front of Judge Carrie Fuca in 41B District Court in Clinton Township.
Carjacking, armed robbery and torture all carry maximum penalties of life in prison.
The incident took place Oct. 23, 2023, when a 24-year-old Sterling Heights man was carjacked at gunpoint by four armed and masked suspects outside of Lifetime, according to township police. The suspects restrained him in his own pickup truck and drove away.
The suspects allegedly tortured the victim, drove to his house, and entered the residence, police said. Sterling Heights officers arrived at the victim's home and encountered one of the suspects in the truck with the victim.
The abductor fled in the vehicle with the victim. Police chased after it before he crashed, took the driver into custody, and secured a loaded assault rifle that was in the truck. The other suspects were subsequently arrested.
Coleman is being held in the county jail in lieu of a $5 million bond while the other defendants' bonds are at $3 million. Andujar-Ruiz and Miller are not in the county jail, records indicate.
