Vardanyan, 24, was sentenced Friday in a Tampa, Fla. courtroom by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich. He accepted $5,000 "to carry out three attacks on the couple in New York and Sarasota," according to a newspaper account. "Grigori and Galina Komissarchuk suffered fractured skulls and other severe injuries as a result of the attacks, which occurred between September 2006 and April 2007."
Prior to receiving his sentence, Vardanyan was questioned by Judge Kovachevich. She asked if he really needed "such a small amount of money." He told her that he did.
"You could have walked away and said no, and then you did it a third time," she admonished him. Mrs. Komissarchuk "could have been your own mother."
Vardanyan replied, "I was trying to prove something, I guess."
The Komissarchuk’s son-in-law, Alex Shevgert, is expected to receive his sentence next month. Another man, Larik Cholak, has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for having recruited Vardanyan to commit the attacks.
Vardanyan, an Armenian native, will be deported once his sentence has been served, his attorney said. He has anchored such titles as "Latinolicious," "Just Add Water" and "Code Violators" for Jet Set Productions, "Big Dick Club 2" for Falcon Studios, and "Communion" for Hot House Entertainment.