Man Seeking Aid for Quake Victims Called Con Artist

A man who appeared on television soliciting funds to help earthquake victims in Soviet Armenia is a convicted drug dealer described by authorities as a con artist, a published report said Tuesday.

Stephen Hamparian, 37, appeared last Wednesday on a program broadcast by WBZ-TV, Channel 4 in Boston, to appeal for money to help the earthquake victims. But authorities Tuesday warned the public not to donate money to any organization Hamparian claimed to represent, saying the Winchester, Mass., man is a convicted drug dealer.

Hamparian received a suspended sentence after being convicted of conspiring to violate state drug laws in connection with a 1983 incident. He later was arrested at least three times on drug charges, the Boston Globe reported.

“This guy Hamparian is a major-league drug dealer,” John J. Coleman Jr., special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England, was quoted by the Globe as saying. “This guy turns up in at least a dozen of our files. And there is a notation in all of these files which says, ‘The subject is known to carry and will use guns.’ ”

“He’s a con artist,” said Detective Lt. Robert Long.