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.
“Unbelievable,” an apoplectic Coryne Childers, Olivia’s mom, said.
“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?”
Bala also allegedly made a sarcastic quip to Alecia Swejkowski – Olivia’s aunt – as she told the court his next hearing date clashes with her son’s birthday.
“Happy birthday to your son,” he said.
Bala faces a maximum of life in prison after being charged with kidnapping and child enticement.
He allegedly forced Alexis into his car while she was walking by Clinton River Road in Clinton Township.
“He asked if he could walk me home twice and I refused both times, and I started walking off,” Alexis told WXYZ as she recalled her interaction with Bala.
“He got out of the car, grabbed my wrist, he said, ‘I’m going to mess you up.’”
Brave bystander Paul Billiter, who was doing yard work at the time, rushed to save the girl – and she was able to escape.
“She was just screaming like the way a dog would howl. She was terribly frightened,” he said.
Bala then allegedly approached Olivia, who was riding her bike with Swejkowski in Sterling Heights, before grabbing her and forcing her into his car.
Bala tried to shove the girl in the passenger side of his car – but Swejkowski told how she met him “in the middle” where they “fought for the [child’s] life.”
“I was punched on top of my head. He had one hand on her and one hand trying to get the wheel,” she said.
“I had one hand on the wheel, trying to get his hand off of her, and we went back and forth.”
He then tried to drive away – but another motorist stopped him in his tracks by blocking his car. That allowed Swejkowski’s niece to get out of the car.
It was “the craziest moment of our lives,” Swejkowski said, recalling the moment.
Bala’s pretrial hearing is set for Aug. 24 and a potential trial date is set for October.
But the families have urged the judge just to set a date.
Bala was declared competent to stand trial – despite a psychiatrist previously ruling he was “legally insane” at the time of the alleged crimes.
Sabaugh had previously rejected a plea of not guilty by insanity.
“Let’s just go to trial in October and be done with it because these are just games he is playing,” Alexis’ grandma Lori DeMars said.
“He didn’t get his own way with the judge. … So he throws a fit like a 2-year-old,” she scoffed.
Bala has been held at a jail for almost two years – and has since been accused of vandalism.
He allegedly put feces on a cell phone used by inmates, smashed a tablet bought for him, and flooded his cell.
DeMars claimed the families were told by Immigration Custom Enforcement that Bala will be deported after he serves any potential prison sentence.
But Swejkowski has called for him to be imprisoned for life.
“I don’t want him harming any child here. I don’t want him harming any child in Albania,” she said.
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