N.Y. to host arms cases

Jackson Bell

Two local men accused of belonging to an organized crime ring that

plotted to smuggle military firearms into the United States will have

their cases moved to New York, federal officials said Friday.

Garegin Gasparyan, 28, of Burbank and Tigran Gevorgyan, 21, of

Glendale, are among 18 alleged members of a crime syndicate accused

of trying to sell $2.5 million worth of weapons -- including

rocket-propelled grenade launchers and shoulder-to-fire

surface-to-air missiles -- to an FBI informant. The informant posed

as an arms trafficker with ties to Al Qaeda, prosecutors said. The

two were arrested locally March 16.

Gasparyan and Gevorgyan agreed Friday in a Los Angeles federal

courthouse to have their case handled by the New York U.S. Attorney’s

office, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s local

office.

“They waived their hearing, essentially agreeing to appear in New

York,” Mrozek said. “It’s [New York’s] case, we were just assisting

them in the initial proceedings out here.”

Armand Abramian, a 27-year-old Glendale man police were searching

for at the time of the arrests, has contacted authorities through his

lawyer, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles

office.

“Earlier in this week, his attorney was negotiating his surrender,

but it was unclear if he was in custody earlier today,” Eimiller said

Friday.

Representatives from New York’s FBI office were unavailable late

Friday.

The arrests were a result of a year-long investigation that

included 15,000 wire-tapped phone conversations, according to the

criminal complaint unsealed March 16 in a New York federal court. The

suspects were arrested during roundups in Los Angeles, New York City

and Miami.

The ring’s alleged masterminds -- Arthur Solomonyan and Christiaan

Dewet Spies, both of New York -- were arrested after meeting with the

informant to finalize plans to import the military weapons from

Eastern Europe, prosecutors said.

The suspects sold eight illegal machineguns and other assault

weapons to the informant, prosecutors said.

Gasparyan and Gevorgyan were being held Friday at Metropolitan

Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, Mrozek said. U.S.

Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Johnson set bail at $500,000, but

prosecutors have until Wednesday to appeal the bond setting to a New

York judge, he said.

* JACKSON BELL covers public safety and courts. He may be reached

at (818) 637-3232 or at jackson.bell@latimes.com.