A Michigan man who tried to abduct two girls flipped off at their families while in court — as he backtracked on a plea deal over the charges, according to reports.
Endi Bala, 25, appeared in a Mount Clemens courthouse over the August 2024 attempted kidnapping – and it was expected he would plead no contest before suddenly having a change of heart, the Macomb Daily reported.
Bala, who is originally from Albania and moved to the US when he was a teen, allegedly tried to snatch Olivia and Alexis, who were 7 and 15 at the time, within a 45 minute period – and faces charges of kidnapping and child enticement.
He had reportedly agreed to a plea – but changed his mind before stepping foot in the courtroom.
“You don’t want to enter a plea today?” Matthew Sabaugh, the presiding judge, asked.
“No,” Bala replied, shaking his head.
“The plan was to enter into the pleas today, but unfortunately after our conference in chambers, he has changed his mind for the time being,” Samuel Bennett, his attorney, said, trying to explain Bala’s decision.
Bala was disruptive throughout the court hearing – and at one point, his lawyer said, “Shut your mouth,” WDIV reported.
“You are not going to communicate with anyone in the gallery, sir,” Sabaugh snapped.
But when Bala was being escorted out of the courtroom, he allegedly made a crude gesture at the girls’ families. --->READ MORE HERE
He refuses to agree to deal to plead no contest
A Shelby Township man “flipped off” the families of the three children involved in his attempted abduction case while leaving a courtroom Monday after he refused to plead to the charges.
Endi Bala, 25, made the obscene middle-finger gesture toward family members sitting in the gallery of the Macomb County Circuit courtroom in Mount Clemens where he informed Judge Matthew Sabaugh that he changed his mind and would not be pleading no contest to charges of kidnapping-child enticement, attempted unlawful imprisonment, two misdemeanor assaults charges and several vandalism charges county jail incidents.
“Unbelievable,” Coryne Childers said afterward outside of the courtroom. “How is it OK for him to turn and flick us off, smile at us, yet if we say one thing, we’re threatened, we’re going to get kicked out of court? How is that OK? You’re the one that did this … but you can sit there, smile at us, flick us off, and that’s OK?”
Childers is the mother of a now 9-year-old girl who Bala abducted for a few moments in his vehicle nearly two years ago in Sterling Heights before Bala was thwarted by the girl’s aunt, Alecia Swejkowski.
It appeared the judge did not see Bala’s gesture.
Bala also said, “Happy birthday to your son,” to Swejkowski in court after Swejkowski rejected the next court date in August for Bala because it’s her son’s birthday.
The families called that a sarcastic, inappropriate comment.
Lori DeMars, whose 15-year-old granddaughter at the time was the target of an alleged abduction by Bala only about an hour before the Sterling Heights incident, said Bala is “playing games” to try to be declared insane.
“These are just games he’s playing,” DeMars said afterward. “He didn’t get his own way with the judge. … So he throws a fit like a 2-year-old.”
Leading up to the hearing, Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Stephanie Stager and Bala’s attorney Sam Bennett, reached a deal for Bala to plead no contest to all of the charges he faces.
But when Bala appeared in court, he told Bala he was not agreeing to plead. --->READ MORE HERE
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