Police Arrest Car Dealers in Air-Bag Raid

Two used car dealers were arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property and authorities raided their La Crescenta home, seizing 11 air bags, police said Tuesday.

Edgar Akopyan, 27, owner of the Cars 4 U lot at 12440 Roscoe Boulevard in Sun Valley, and his brother Ayk, 23, were released on $10,000 bail each late Tuesday.

Los Angeles police said Tuesday that the Akopyans installed stolen air bags in a number of cars and hid from buyers the fact that some vehicles had been reconditioned for resale.

The investigation began last month with a routine inspection of the dealership, police said. Officers found inconsistencies in the company’s paperwork and returned last week for a follow-up inspection.

Inspectors said they found two cars on the lot equipped with stolen air bags, as well as four air bag “brains”--the computers that regulate the bags’ release--also believed to be stolen, said LAPD Det. Ken Belt.

This week, authorities contacted six Cars 4 U customers and found that four of the cars purchased contained stolen air bags, Belt said. All six vehicles had been salvaged, but the buyers said they had not been informed, Belt said.

One of the vehicles sold by Cars 4 U was involved in an accident in which a Burbank man died. Survivors have sued the lot, the car’s manufacturer, Subaru of America, and another firm, which allegedly serviced the car.

Christopher Chin, 19, was killed after a car in which he was riding hit a tree and caught fire. The youth’s seat belt failed to release, “trapping [him] in the back seat, where he burned alive,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit alleged the car had a “dangerously defective” steering mechanism, fuel tank and passenger seat belt system, and that the car lot failed to “properly repair” the car, even after its owner brought it in to be fixed a number of times. Belt said the investigation “leads us to believe [the car] may have been a very damaged vehicle that was put back into service.”

Belt said Cars 4 U specializes in Honda Accords and Acura Integras, models that were the target of a recent rash of air bag thefts in the San Fernando Valley.

Concerned owners may call police at (818) 756-8318.

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Times staff writer Eric Malnic contributed to this story. Liu is a Times staff writer; Fausset is a correspondent.