Gretchen Hoffman
Seven people have been arrested in Glendale and Burbank in
connection with a suspected fraud ring that staged collisions to
collect settlements from insurance companies, officials said.
Investigators with a Los Angeles County-organized auto fraud task
force executed arrest warrants for 28 people throughout the San
Fernando Valley on Tuesday, and at least 10 suspects are still
outstanding.
Search and arrest warrants were issued for homes, chiropractic
offices and a car-repair business around the county, including
Glendale and Burbank. Included in the 19 people arrested are:
Glendale residents Garnik Arzumanyan, 37; Gayane Arzumanyan, 34;
Vardui Bandzhardzhyan, 59; and Jong Min Lee, 27. Also arrested were
Burbank residents Sargis Kbulchyan, 47; Yegine Kbulchyan, 45; and
Manvel Kbulchyan, 21.
The "Operation Roundup" investigation was launched last November
by the state Department of Insurance, California Highway Patrol and
the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
"This investigation is still going," said Howard Hughie,
Supervising Criminal Investigator with the Department of Insurance.
"We're working on getting the rest of the warrants served."
None of the remaining nine warrants are for Glendale or Burbank
residents, Hughie said. A 10th outstanding suspect is a juvenile.
The ring is suspected of having staged hundreds or thousands of
collisions. "Cappers" or "stagers" recruited people to participate in
the crashes, file false insurance claims, seek medical treatment for
nonexistent injuries and demand settlements from insurance companies.
