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Providence Journal, RI
Sept 8 2007
Pair sentenced for their role in PIN pad scheme
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, September 8, 2007
By Paul Grimaldi
Journal Staff Writer
Phot: Defendants Mikael Stepanian and Arutyun Shatarevyan still await
sentencing.
Journal FILES / Steve Szydlowski
PROVIDENCE - Two of the four Californians arrested in a scheme to
steal bank card information from supermarket customers in Rhode
Island were sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court.
Arman Ter-Esayan, 22, of Valley Glen, was sentenced to six years in
federal prison for conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity
theft.
Gevork Baltadjian, 20, of Winnetka, was sentenced to 61 months in
prison for playing a `minor' role in the scheme that siphoned
$132,000 from the accounts of Stop & Shop customers in Rhode Island.
U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith also ordered each man to
repay the banks that covered those losses and to remain on supervised
probation for three years after their release.
He will recommend both men spend their terms in a federal prison in
southern California, Smith said.
Ter-Esayan, an Armenian national, will be turned over to immigration
officials for deportation after his release.
The two other men charged in the scheme will be sentenced later.
Arutyun Shatarevyan, 20, of Los Angeles, is set for sentencing Sept.
21. Sentencing for Mikael Stepanian, 28, of Studio City, is Nov. 2.
Like Ter-Esayan and Baltadjian, they agreed this year to plead guilty
to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity
theft.
The men were arrested by state and Coventry police Feb. 26 at the
Stop & Shop on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry where, federal and state
authorities said, the four had gone to retrieve a checkout lane PIN
pad rigged to capture shoppers' financial-account information.
Videotape evidence linked the men to 1,100 account thefts at Stop &
Shops in Providence, Cranston and Coventry, and ultimately, to ATM
withdrawals made in California, according to federal officials. The
men removed or tried to remove original PIN pads from at least six
stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The men were living in California before they flew to Rhode Island in
early February.
Ter-Esayan's lawyer, George W. Buehler,tried to downplay the
financial damage done by the scheme and said the government was
`piling on' the prison time it wanted his client to serve.
`Every one of [the customers] has been made whole by the banks,'
Buehler said. `The actual financial losses have been sustained by the
... banks.
Smith, however, disagreed.
The judge laid out various scenarios, some taken from customer
affidavits, in which people's finances were disrupted by the thefts.
Money was taken, or credit charges applied, to the accounts of at
least 238 people, he noted.
`I just don't see how that doesn't make the customer the victim,'
Smith said. `Are you saying the inconvenience experienced by each of
these [people] is irrelevant?'
The `emotional' effect of learning accounts are compromised is less
severe than the `economic loss' of money being drained permanently
from an account, Buehler said.
Regardless of a bank's willingness to reimburse customers, `these
people suffered real, actual economic loss,' said Lee H. Vilker, an
assistant U.S. attorney. `They should be considered victims.'
Ter-Esayan, reading from a legal pad yesterday in court said, `I take
full responsibility for my actions in this case and am truly sorry.
If there is no price there is no value and consequently nothing is
learned.
`All I can hope is to get through this and get back to my life.'
Ter-Esayan settled in the Los Angeles area four years ago after
arriving from his native Armenia.
Buehler tried to depict his client as having established strong ties
to his California community.
In Glendale, outside of Los Angeles, about one-third of the city's
206,000 residents are Armenian. Among them is Araz Setaghaian, whom
he married this summer while in the Adult Correctional Institutions,
according to a court document.
Setaghaian was in court yesterday, along with Ter-Esayan's mother,
but neither testified.
In a separate hearing yesterday, Baltadjian's court-appointed lawyer
separated his client from Ter-Esayan and the others.
`This sophisticated operation required three individuals,' said
Richard Corley, and `anybody who has the gift of gab.'
Baltadjian's role was to distract store clerks so they wouldn't
notice Ter-Esayan and Shatarevyan handling the checkout lane PIN
pads. Employed as a tow-truck driver back home, Baltadjian was paid
$2,500, plus various expenses, to play a `minor' role in the scheme,
Corley said.
The judge acknowledged the argument.
`I recognize that you were used in some respect,' Smith told
Baltadjian. `I'm not suggesting you plotted it or conceived it . . .
That is why you will receive a sentence that is lower than your
co-defendants.'
Baltadjian arrived in the United States from Armenia in 1993. He
gained U.S. citizenship as a result of his mother being granted
citizenship before his 18th birthday, Corley discovered shortly
before yesterday's hearing.
Unlike Ter-Esayan, he cannot be deported as a result of his guilty
plea in this case.
`I think it is a major victory,' Corley said. `The consequences of
deportation would intensify his punishment greatly.'
Sept 8 2007
Pair sentenced for their role in PIN pad scheme
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, September 8, 2007
By Paul Grimaldi
Journal Staff Writer
Phot: Defendants Mikael Stepanian and Arutyun Shatarevyan still await
sentencing.
Journal FILES / Steve Szydlowski
PROVIDENCE - Two of the four Californians arrested in a scheme to
steal bank card information from supermarket customers in Rhode
Island were sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court.
Arman Ter-Esayan, 22, of Valley Glen, was sentenced to six years in
federal prison for conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity
theft.
Gevork Baltadjian, 20, of Winnetka, was sentenced to 61 months in
prison for playing a `minor' role in the scheme that siphoned
$132,000 from the accounts of Stop & Shop customers in Rhode Island.
U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith also ordered each man to
repay the banks that covered those losses and to remain on supervised
probation for three years after their release.
He will recommend both men spend their terms in a federal prison in
southern California, Smith said.
Ter-Esayan, an Armenian national, will be turned over to immigration
officials for deportation after his release.
The two other men charged in the scheme will be sentenced later.
Arutyun Shatarevyan, 20, of Los Angeles, is set for sentencing Sept.
21. Sentencing for Mikael Stepanian, 28, of Studio City, is Nov. 2.
Like Ter-Esayan and Baltadjian, they agreed this year to plead guilty
to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity
theft.
The men were arrested by state and Coventry police Feb. 26 at the
Stop & Shop on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry where, federal and state
authorities said, the four had gone to retrieve a checkout lane PIN
pad rigged to capture shoppers' financial-account information.
Videotape evidence linked the men to 1,100 account thefts at Stop &
Shops in Providence, Cranston and Coventry, and ultimately, to ATM
withdrawals made in California, according to federal officials. The
men removed or tried to remove original PIN pads from at least six
stores in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
The men were living in California before they flew to Rhode Island in
early February.
Ter-Esayan's lawyer, George W. Buehler,tried to downplay the
financial damage done by the scheme and said the government was
`piling on' the prison time it wanted his client to serve.
`Every one of [the customers] has been made whole by the banks,'
Buehler said. `The actual financial losses have been sustained by the
... banks.
Smith, however, disagreed.
The judge laid out various scenarios, some taken from customer
affidavits, in which people's finances were disrupted by the thefts.
Money was taken, or credit charges applied, to the accounts of at
least 238 people, he noted.
`I just don't see how that doesn't make the customer the victim,'
Smith said. `Are you saying the inconvenience experienced by each of
these [people] is irrelevant?'
The `emotional' effect of learning accounts are compromised is less
severe than the `economic loss' of money being drained permanently
from an account, Buehler said.
Regardless of a bank's willingness to reimburse customers, `these
people suffered real, actual economic loss,' said Lee H. Vilker, an
assistant U.S. attorney. `They should be considered victims.'
Ter-Esayan, reading from a legal pad yesterday in court said, `I take
full responsibility for my actions in this case and am truly sorry.
If there is no price there is no value and consequently nothing is
learned.
`All I can hope is to get through this and get back to my life.'
Ter-Esayan settled in the Los Angeles area four years ago after
arriving from his native Armenia.
Buehler tried to depict his client as having established strong ties
to his California community.
In Glendale, outside of Los Angeles, about one-third of the city's
206,000 residents are Armenian. Among them is Araz Setaghaian, whom
he married this summer while in the Adult Correctional Institutions,
according to a court document.
Setaghaian was in court yesterday, along with Ter-Esayan's mother,
but neither testified.
In a separate hearing yesterday, Baltadjian's court-appointed lawyer
separated his client from Ter-Esayan and the others.
`This sophisticated operation required three individuals,' said
Richard Corley, and `anybody who has the gift of gab.'
Baltadjian's role was to distract store clerks so they wouldn't
notice Ter-Esayan and Shatarevyan handling the checkout lane PIN
pads. Employed as a tow-truck driver back home, Baltadjian was paid
$2,500, plus various expenses, to play a `minor' role in the scheme,
Corley said.
The judge acknowledged the argument.
`I recognize that you were used in some respect,' Smith told
Baltadjian. `I'm not suggesting you plotted it or conceived it . . .
That is why you will receive a sentence that is lower than your
co-defendants.'
Baltadjian arrived in the United States from Armenia in 1993. He
gained U.S. citizenship as a result of his mother being granted
citizenship before his 18th birthday, Corley discovered shortly
before yesterday's hearing.
Unlike Ter-Esayan, he cannot be deported as a result of his guilty
plea in this case.
`I think it is a major victory,' Corley said. `The consequences of
deportation would intensify his punishment greatly.'