The first of a group of Florida men to be sentenced for abducting and kidnapping a man walking from a Shelby Township fitness center in 2023 was ordered to serve 42 to 64 years in prison.
Xavier C. Gardner, 31, received the sentence Wednesday from Macomb County Circuit Judge Joseph Toia after Gardner was convicted last Oct. 31 of carjacking, unlawful imprisonment, home invasion and armed robbery, and conspiracies to commit those crimes, as well as torture and gun charges, following a three-day trial. Gardner will be first eligible for parole when he is 71. He has served the mandatory two years for felony firearm possession.
Gardner, who attempted to fake insanity during court proceedings, according to attorneys, was the first of the group of six to go on trial and the second defendant convicted. Romeo Jaquez Osorio, 25, pleaded guilty last October to all eight of his charges under an agreement reached between his attorney, Joshua Van Laan, and Toia to serve no more than 10 years. Osorio’s sentencing was postponed Wednesday to next Wednesday, according to court records.
Osorio’s charges were carjacking and armed robbery, and conspiracy to those two charges, as well as torture and conspiracy to commit first-degree home invasion and conspiracy to commit unlawful imprisonment.
At least one of the additional four defendants is scheduled to go on trial in March.
Xavier Chase Gardner
SHELBY TOWNSHIP POLICE PHOTO
Gardner was among a group of six from Florida, mostly Tampa, who schemed to kidnap and rob Giovanni Plumaj about 6 p.m. Oct. 23, 2023 because they believed he had “millions” of dollars to steal after one or more of them previously bought marijuana from him.
The scheme quickly went awry for the group when Plumaj was forced into his vehicle outside of Life Time fitness near Hayes and Hall road as he was talking to a friend on the phone. That friend called his mother who contacted police. Officers arrived at Plumaj’s Sterling Heights home moments after the group got there. Five of the defendants who were in the home fled out the back door and the sixth alleged culprit who was in a vehicle with Plumaj outside the home was caught following a short police chase, according to police and court testimony.
Gardner played the most prominent role in the torture of the victim, according to prosecutors.
Plumaj was punched, kicked and had his hands zip-tied together when forced into his vehicle, according to prosecutors. He was moved to another vehicle in a secluded area of Clinton Township and threatened and tortured while Gardner demanded money from him, prosecutors said.
“Give us the money or we’ll burn your d— off,” Gardner told Plumaj, according to Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Carmen DeFranco, after forcing Plumaj to pull down his pants while holding a torch near his genitals.
Plumaj was threatened with death and told his family would be killed. He believed he was going to die. He told them he had $50,000 to $60,000 in a backpack at his house that they could have.
For the entire trial prior to the verdict, Gardner was kept in a separate room and able to view and listen to the trial on video and audio because he didn’t cooperate and repeated mysterious statements in the courtroom. DeFranco said he believed Gardner was trying to fake insanity though he did not plead insanity.
Of the remaining defendants, Angel Pantoja, 24, pleaded no contest to the same charges to which Osorio pleaded and his attorney, Mariell Lehman, reached a sentencing agreement with Toia for a 10-year term.
Defendant Renado Coleman, 41, faces a Feb. 4 pretrial and March 24 trial in front of Toia, while defendant Angel Antonio Andujar-Ruiz, who allegedly was the driver, faces a March 11 hearing in front of Toia.
Security video from Lifetime Fitness in Shelby Township shows a black GMC occupied by some of the susepcts in the Lifetime Fitness abduction case pulling out of a parking spot after being parked next to Giovanni Plumaj’s white Dodge Ram pickup truck shortly before the incident.
MACOMB DAILY IMAGE FROM POLICE VIDEO
All of the defendants whose cases have not been finalized are being held in the county jail.
Gardner and the sixth defendant, Kyle Miller of Orlando, Fla., were indicted with four other defendants in U.S. District Court in Florida in July 2024 on charges racketeering conspiracy and various related charges including conspiracy to commit robbery, bank fraud, murder in aid of racketeering, arson, and possession with intent to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana. According to the indictment, the defendants were member of the “AP” gang, acronym of Alexander Park, in Florida’s Hillsborough County and “elsewhere,” according to the feds.
Miller was 33 at the time of the indictment.
