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Posted on Sun, Aug 26, 2012 : 1:05 p.m.

Five charged in attack on Belleville man to appear in court

By John Counts

Five people facing armed robbery and assault charges in the March beating of a Belleville man will appear in the Washtenaw County Trial Court in the coming weeks.

The first will be Robert Anthony Freeman, 22, of Ypsilanti, who is said to have been among the five people who lured the Belleville man to an Ypsilanti Township apartment complex and then attacked him in the middle of the intersection of Textile and Bridge roads.

The Belleville man testified that he was repeatedly cut and needed 120 stitches on his back. His cash, watch and phone were taken from him as well.

Freeman will appear before Judge Archie Brown on Wednesday for a hearing. Katherine Bialoruski, 19, Kristen Bialoruski, 22, both of Belleville, Gholam Ghanbari, 47, of Ypsilanti, and Asia McGaughy, 20, of Ann Arbor, are scheduled to appear before Brown on Sept. 12 for final pretrial hearings.

In April, a district court judge bound all five defendants over to circuit court on charges of armed robbery, assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and unarmed robbery.

According to court records, Kristen Bialoruski told police she had $3,700 stolen from a safe in her Belleville home. Her 3-year-old child accused the Belleville man, a family friend, of taking the money.

The Belleville man testified at a preliminary examination on April 24 that Kristen Bialoruski confronted him about the missing money for two days before the attack. Then on March 25, the Belleville man testified he began messaging with McGaughy on Facebook.

He said he did not know McGaughy was acquainted with the Bialoruski sisters.

The Belleville man and McGaughy made plans to get together later that night. At about 10 p.m., he was dropped off at a gas station on Belleville Road where McGaughy was waiting in a vehicle.

The man testified he got in and was told they needed to go to Ypsilanti Township to pick up a friend of McGaughy. They drove to an apartment complex at Textile and Bridge roads. McGaughy began talking on her cell phone. When she hung up, she told the victim to “give it up.”

At that point, the Belleville man said he saw someone else in the parking lot and knew it was about the money missing from the safe, so he got out of the car and ran.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said during his testimony.

A man identified by the Belleville man as Freeman chased after him and the two began fighting in the middle of the road. Another man alleged to be Ghanbari got involved.

“Some big … dude just knocked me to the ground,” the Belleville man testified. “I just heard him screaming something like, ‘I’m gonna cut you.’ And he got to slicing me all up.”

The Belleville man said he also saw the Bialoruski sisters. The four allegedly beat and kicked the Belleville man, who lay in a fetal position in the middle of the intersection. Ghanbari allegedly cut him with a box cutter, according to court records.

“I didn’t even know I was getting cut on my back until everybody left,” the victim said.

His cash, wallet and phone were taken. An ambulance was called and the Belleville man was taken to the hospital where he remained for a day and a half.

Ghanbari currently is lodged in jail on a $300,000 cash bond. Katherine Bialoruski is being held on a bond of 10 percent of $30,000. Kristen Bialoruski is being held on a $100,000 cash bond. Jail records indicate Freeman and McGaughy currently are not lodged.

John Counts covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at johncounts@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.

Comments

Tru2Blu76

Mon, Aug 27, 2012 : 2:31 p.m.

The situation itself should be more widely publicized. The law specifically discourages creating situations involving a "disparity of force" - to the advantage of one party. Put simply, the "plan" was to create a situation where injury (or possibly death) would occur to force a pre-planned outcome (surrender of allegedly stolen money). Aggrieved parties are encouraged to seek help from police or lawyers: which means filing a complaint and having actual evidence if at all possible. The people who attacked "the Belleville man" either didn't know about such niceties or didn't care. Result: even if "the Belleville man" HAD stolen the money, he gets to be the victim and the law punishes the aggrieved woman and her cohorts. Using self control and taking time to explore the legal options to address a suspected crime against yourself is a very, very good idea. And re: "lodged" -- once again (this seems to be the Week of Journalistic mediocrity at Ann Arbor dot com) we see the use of a word ("lodged") NOT normally used to describe a situation where someone is HELD or JAILED. Even if the word was "borrowed" from sheriff's speak: it should never have been presented to readers who have a prior knowledge of the CLEARER terms (held or jailed). The word "lodged" has NOTHING to do with being jailed or held by authorities pending either investigation or trial. To think of sheriff's deputies "lodging" someone is simply ridiculous - doing so gives a completely different impression. Motivation: one is that local advertisers may not want their business associated with a publication that is so sloppy. Another motivation is that a journalist does not progress in their career if they habitually misuse words and write confusing articles with poor focus. Good communication skills are essential: and are more likely to produce positive results all around. :)

Cameron McLain

Thu, Aug 30, 2012 : 7:19 p.m.

Sounds like you should apply for the job...

raberwhitetail

Mon, Aug 27, 2012 : 10:58 a.m.

This sounds like a gang of losers......did any of them finish high school?

lefty48197

Mon, Aug 27, 2012 : 10:07 a.m.

Lock em up!

JRW

Mon, Aug 27, 2012 : 1:02 a.m.

Big costs and stupidity all around. I'm sure none of these individuals have health insurance. Who pays for the ambulances and hospital stays? Everyone else with health insurance. And we wonder why premiums keep going up. All the costs to the city are just incredible for this kind of uncivilized criminal behavior.

nickcarraweigh

Mon, Aug 27, 2012 : 12:20 a.m.

The two defendants without lodging should be directed to the homeless shelter, I guess.

Superior Twp voter

Sun, Aug 26, 2012 : 7:06 p.m.

Good luck with this case, Judge Brown. What a mess!