Automobile Dismantler Is Charged

SUN VALLEY — A Glendale man convicted of auto theft and operating an unlicensed auto-dismantling business was rearrested on suspicion of committing the same offenses Tuesday--two weeks after he pleaded guilty to the first charges and was sentenced to probation.

Henrik Oganesyan, 30, was arrested this time with his brother, Vardges Oganesyan, 36--also of Glendale--at H & R Auto Dismantling in the 11100 block of Penrose Street in Sun Valley, said Det. Kenneth Belt of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Henrik Oganesyan was first arrested in June of last year when auto theft detectives paid the shop a surprise visit to check for proper licenses and stolen parts and vehicles.

The California Vehicle Code, Belt said, allows officers assigned specifically to auto theft units to enter any business that should be licensed by the California Department of Motor Vehicles for routine checkups.

At least four stolen vehicles were located in the original case.

Henrik Oganesyan pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years’ probation instead of jail time--which would ordinarily be a minimum of about 2 1/2 years for those crimes, Belt said.

In the latest case, officers verified three vehicles as stolen, Belt said. Three others had stolen parts and 21 more had dashboards from which the vehicle identification numbers had been removed, he said.

The cars were late-model sedans--including Hondas and Toyotas--and sport utility vehicles stolen from different sections of Los Angeles, authorities said.

The men would steal vehicles and simultaneously buy others that had been slightly damaged in accidents, Belt said. They would then use the parts from the stolen vehicles to repair the legally purchased ones or transfer the vehicle identification number plate from a legal vehicle to a stolen one, he said.

Both men were being held at the Van Nuys Jail.