Four of six suspects in Shelby Twp. gym kidnapping arraigned in Magistrate Court

Four of the six defendants accused of violently kidnapping and torturing a Sterling Heights man last year outside a Shelby Township gym have been summoned to face charges in Macomb County Court in Mount Clemens.

All four suspects waived preliminary examinations scheduled for last month in Shelby Township 41A District Court for the incident that occurred last October outside Lifetime Fitness on Lakeside Boulevard north of Hall Road.

Angel Pantoja, 22, Angel Antonio Andujar-Ruiz, 34, Renado Gary Coleman, 39, and Romeo Osorio, 24, will be tried Oct. 21 before Judge Joseph Toia. They are all from Tampa, Florida.

Xavier Chase Gardner, 30, is undergoing a mental competency evaluation and has no court date in district court.

The arraignment in the case of the sixth defendant, Kyle Richard Miller, 33, has taken place but he is currently in New York facing drug trafficking charges.

Coleman, Gardner and Miller are charged with 12 counts in total: carjacking, armed robbery, home invasion and unlawful confinement, for which they are also charged with conspiracy. They are also charged with one count of torture and three counts of carrying a firearm.

Andujar-Ruiz faces the same charges, except that each of his three conspiracy charges is a misdemeanor.

Pantoja and Osorio are charged with eight counts: carjacking, armed robbery and unlawful confinement, as well as conspiracy, torture and home invasion. Pantoja is charged with possession of a weapon in prison, for which he is scheduled to appear Oct. 8 before Judge Carrie Fuca in 41B District Court in Clinton Township.

Carjacking, armed robbery and torture are all crimes that carry maximum penalties of up to life in prison.

The incident took place on Oct. 23, 2023, when a 24-year-old Sterling Heights man was attacked by four armed and masked suspects outside Lifetime, according to township police. The suspects pinned him down in his own pickup truck and drove away.

The suspects allegedly tortured the victim, went to her home and entered the residence, police said. Sterling Heights officers arrived at the victim’s home and encountered one of the suspects who was in the truck with the victim.

The kidnapper fled with the victim in the vehicle. Police chased him before he crashed, arrested the driver and recovered a loaded assault rifle from the truck. The other suspects were later arrested.

Coleman is being held in the county jail on $5 million bail, while the other defendants are on $3 million bail. Andujar-Ruiz and Miller are not in the county jail, according to the documents.