GLENDALE/N. HOLLYWOOD : 10 Arrested in Credit Card Fraud Case

Ten Glendale and North Hollywood residents, including a 15-year-old girl, have been arrested in an alleged credit card fraud ring that involved the theft of thousands of gallons of gasoline from service stations countywide, authorities said Friday.

Officers from several agencies made the arrests after serving nine search warrants in Los Angeles and Glendale and seizing more than 200 fake and stolen credit cards, nine firearms and six trucks--four of which contained 200-gallon tanks used to hold the gas, investigators said.

Also confiscated were two computers, a machine to secretly code credit cards and nine cellular phones. No exact dollar loss was available.

Glendale Police Investigator Mario Yagoda said the monthlong investigation also involved the Los Angeles Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, credit card company investigators and federal agencies.

The ring is believed to have operated for a month out of a Sun Valley gas station owned by one of the suspects. The investigator said suspects were able to obtain real credit card numbers through customers using the Sun Valley gas station and other contacts. Authorities believe the suspects used a computer to encode those numbers onto blank credit cards.

Merchants would never notice the fake cards because pumps equipped with the automatic credit card feature were used.

The ring is suspected of going to stations as far south as Los Angeles International Airport, buying an average of 200 gallons of gas and bringing it back to be resold at the Sun Valley station, Yagoda said.

Arrested were Grigor Djaladian, 36; Mkrtich Djaladian, 34; Mike Zadikian, 22; and Abram Muradyan, 27, all from North Hollywood.

Authorities also arrested Levon Djaladian, 23; Lev Iophe, 26; Gagik Grigorian, 45; Kristina Grigorian, 19; and Monica Gregorian, 18, all from Glendale.

They were released after posting $10,000 bail each. The 15-year-old, a Glendale resident, was released to a parent.