Local men face arraignment
They’re accused of having been in a crime ring that fraudulently cashed Medicare checks.
By Ryan Vaillancourt and The Leader

GLENDALE — Two Glendale men charged with participating in a crime ring that stole nearly $2 million from federal and private health insurers will be arraigned Tuesday in Los Angeles Criminal Court.

Edkar Mikirtijyan, 25, and Vahan E. Harutyunyan, 32, are among six men facing a total of 62 counts of conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering and grand theft, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

Federal authorities arrested the six men on April 4 at homes in Glendale, North Hollywood and Van Nuys.

The men are accused of giving fraudulently obtained Medicare and private insurance checks to a man described in court documents as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement confidential source, with the understanding that the source would cash the checks and return a portion of the proceeds.

The case began as a drug and money laundering investigation conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was later expanded to include healthcare fraud, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. advertisement


“At that point, we reached out to the [District Attorney’s] Office and with [the United States Department of Health and Human Services],â€