Travel Agent Convicted of Assaulting Russian Clients

VAN NUYS — The co-owner of a Tarzana travel agency, who prosecutors said beat a Russian tourist and threatened another by holding a piece of sharp glass to the victim’s neck, was convicted Thursday of assault and attempted extortion.

Alexander Taran, 37, who co-owns World Tours Travel in Tarzana, faces up to eight years and 10 months in prison when he is sentenced June 10, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Thursday’s verdict is a “second strike” against Taran, Gibbons said, because he was previously convicted in a robbery case.

But Taran, in a telephone interview from jail, vehemently denied the charges, saying he was set up by overzealous detectives, and a last-minute change in his public defender hurt his chances for a fair trial.

“I did not do this,” Taran said. “I was not even in the place they said I was. I am innocent.”

The case was investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department’s organized crime and intelligence unit.

Taran apparently sold the two Russian tourists a trip to the United States last year, then took their passports when they arrived and demanded money from them in return for their passports when they wanted to continue their trip to Seattle, Gibbons said.

In addition, Gibbons said, Taran was charged with assaulting one of the tourists and a friend by holding a piece of glass to the throat of one and striking the other with his fist.

But Taran said he was not even at the Holiday Inn in Woodland Hills, where the assault occurred.

Taran was convicted of one count of assault and two counts of extortion. Taran said other charges against him, including terrorism and battery, were dropped for lack of evidence.