Glendale police: Tinted windows lead to drug arrests

Pair found with bag of meth and a doctor's prescription note pads.

March 12, 2013|By Veronica Rocha, veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Sevak Mesrobian was arrested on suspicion of possessing… (Courtesy of the…)

A La Crescenta couple were arrested Sunday after officers found a physician's prescription notepads inside their home, police said.

Police wound up at the home after they pulled over Sevak Mesrobian, 34, and found methamphetamine inside his car.

Once at the home in the 3200 block of Altura Avenue, Mesrobian and Sofi Machandjyan, 31, were taken into custody when police found that prescriptions had been written out to Machandjyan for the painkiller Vicodin, according to Glendale police.

[Updated March 14, 2013: Prosecutors declined to file charges against Mesrobian due to insufficient evidence of charges for possession of methamphetamine and a firearm, said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, on Thursday.

No charges had been filed against Machandjyan.]

Officers contacted the North Carolina-based doctor whose name was on the prescriptions and notepads. He told police that he had not given his notepads to Machandjyan, police said.

The doctor told officers he didn't understand why she had his notepads and that he had not issued those prescriptions, according to police.

Officers had stopped Mesrobian at Foothill Boulevard and Lauderdale Avenue because he had tinted driver and front-passenger windows on his car, police said.

He reportedly told officers he was a gang member and was on parole for robbery until 2015. He then allowed officers to search his car.

Officers found a plastic bag containing methamphetamine and digital photographs of him holding an assault rifle, according to police.

Mesrobian reportedly told officers his cousin owned the rifle. However, police said he was unable to provide them with his cousin's address, so they went to search Mesrobian's home, where they found the prescriptions and notepads.

Officers didn't find the rifle.

Mesrobian was arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Machandjyan was booked on suspicion of bringing drugs into jail, receiving stolen property and possessing drug paraphernalia.

Machandjyan was later released after posting bail. Mesrobian remained in custody.

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Follow Veronica Rocha on Google+ and on Twitter: @VeronicaRochaLA.

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