Man to be arraigned on fraud charges

GLENDALE — A 44-year-old man is due to appear in U.S. District Court Monday to be arraigned on charges of healthcare fraud after Glendale Police arrested him during a traffic stop in January.

Sarkis Militonyan, who is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, is facing eight counts of healthcare fraud, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

Militonyan and doctor Michael Streams allegedly set up a bogus health clinic, billing Medicare to the tune of $5 million for services that were never performed, according to news reports.

Police arrested Militonyan on Jan. 27 at West Glendale Boulevard and Sonora Avenue after patrol officers saw him straddling two lanes in a sport utility vehicle without license plates, Officer John Balian said.

“[Militonyan] advised the officer that he was on probation for extortion and produced his identification,” Balian said. “And when they ran a warrants check to verify his license, they found that he had a no-bail warrant from the FBI for medical fraud.”

Officers took Militonyan into custody without further incident and found apparently stolen Social Security and credit card numbers in his car, Balian said.

“The vehicle was searched after the arrest, and there were some other items found that led the officers to believe that he was possibly also involved in some sort of identity theft scheme,” Balian said. “There were victims from all over.”