2 Arrested in Acid Attack That Blinded Woman : Glendale: Former stepfather and stepbrother charged with recruiting man who threw chemical in victim’s face.

Two years after a young Glendale woman was blinded by a man who threw acid on her face, her former stepfather and stepbrother have been arrested and charged with arranging the attack, authorities said Thursday.

Ara Kachik Topalian, 55, and his son, Carlo Ara Topalian, 21, are each charged with one count of aggravated mayhem and one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated mayhem for allegedly recruiting Emad Fawzi Kalta, 21, to assault Shusan Eloyan, now 24.

Kalta, of Hacienda Heights, pleaded guilty on May 6 to mayhem, aggravated mayhem and assault with caustic chemicals for throwing the acid in Eloyan’s face in July, 1989, leaving her blind and disfigured. He will be sentenced on Aug. 22 and faces a maximum term of life in prison.

Police and Eloyan’s family members have long suspected that Kalta--who had no apparent motive for attacking Eloyan and was her stepbrother’s friend----had carried out the assault at the request of the Topalians.

But Officer Rusty Hancock, the detective who investigated the case, said the police did not have enough evidence to arrest the two until Kalta recently confirmed the theory. Hancock would not discuss Kalta’s statements.

“I would have liked to have had them arrested a long time ago,” Hancock said.

Hancock said he did not know why Kalta agreed to participate in the attack plan.

“From what we can understand, he wasn’t paid,” Hancock said.

At the time of the assault, Ara Topalian and Eloyan’s mother were in the midst of a bitter divorce, and Ara Topalian was also angry at Eloyan, Hancock said.

Shortly before the attack, Eloyan and her mother obtained a temporary restraining order against Ara Topalian, who had made verbal threats against them, Hancock said.

“There was a marital dispute with a pending divorce. That seems to be the crux of where the assault came from,” Hancock said.

Eloyan, a Soviet Armenian immigrant, was assaulted while walking to the supermarket to pick up money from Ara Topalian, who was helping her with her rent payments.

She told police that Kalta approached her from behind and asked what time it was. When she turned to reply, she said, he threw a caustic yellow-green liquid in her face.

Ara Topalian was arrested at his Glendale home on Wednesday and Carlo Topalian, now in the Army, was arrested in New York and will be extradited to California, Hancock said.

Ara Topalian pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday, and was ordered held without bail. A bail hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, and a preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 6.