Armenian National Pleads Guilty to Gas Pump Skimming Scheme |
|---|
|
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Virginia
15 May 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – An Armenian national and resident of Glendale, California, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with his involvement in obtaining and using thousands of stolen credit and debit card numbers.
According to court documents, Armen Saplekchian, 37, conspired with at least six other individuals to steal at least 18,000 credit and debit cards numbers, as well as the personal identification numbers associated with many of the stolen card numbers, through the use of electronic devices known as “skimmers.” Specifically, conspirators attached skimmers to gas pump payment systems, collected the information captured when payment cards were swiped at the compromised gas pumps by unwitting customers, and encoded the stolen card numbers onto physical payment cards. Thereafter, conspirators used the physical cards encoded with stolen card information throughout northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, making thousands of dollars’ worth of fraudulent ATM withdrawals and U.S. Postal Service money order purchases.
On April 4, a federal grand jury returned a 13-count indictment charging Saplekchian, Timburek Khasanov, 37, and Mushegh Melkonyan, 28, with bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, as well as Anatoly Zinchenko, 47, with conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. In addition to Saplekchian, whose sentencing is scheduled for August 31, the following four individuals have pleaded guilty to offenses arising from their unlawful participation in the gas pump skimming scheme described above:
|
Name, Age |
City, State |
Convictions |
Sentencing Date |
|
Rudolf Mekhakian (aka Rudolph Mekhakain), 31 |
Santa Monica, CA |
Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud; Aggravated Identity Theft |
August 10 |
|
Radik Karapetyan, 25 |
North Hollywood, CA |
Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud; Aggravated Identity Theft |
July 20 |
|
Siranush Yengibaryan, 23 |
Van Nuys, CA |
Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud; Aggravated Identity Theft |
July 27 |
|
Anatoly Zinchenko, 47 |
Philadelphia, PA |
Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud |
August 3 |
Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Patrick J. Lechleitner, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C., Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, Joseph W. Cronin, Acting Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Col. Edwin Roessler, Jr. Chief of Fairfax County Police Department made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander P. Berrang, Kellen S. Dwyer, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy A. Edwards are prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information is located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case Nos. 1:18-cr-136, 1:18-cr-143, 1:18-cr-144, and 1:18-cr-149.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.