Victimized Sheriff’s Department Probes Thefts

In this caper, authorities said, the crooks stole the identities of Los Angeles County employees, then collected about $260,000 in bogus doctor bills.

And in a bit of irony, a good many of those stolen identities belonged to employees of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the law enforcement agency investigating the case.

Now, one man has been arrested and a second is being sought in what investigators are calling a major healthcare fraud ring.

Samvel Melkonyan, 48, of Glendale has been charged with identity theft and fraud in the 54-count criminal complaint. Also being sought was Tigran Ghalmukhyan, 34, of Van Nuys.

The scam, which took place over the last year, had bogus companies billing the county for medical services that never took place. Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitemore said that employees were unaware of the claims and that the so-called diagnostic centers doing the billing were mail drops where the insurance checks were sent.

“They turned out to be nothing more than empty mailboxes, empty office suites and a vacant apartment,” Whitemore said.

Investigators said the identity thefts occurred at a San Fernando Valley clinic, but that clinic’s owners have been cleared of wrongdoing.

Over the course of the next year, more than 200 claims were submitted to the county for payment.

Whitemore said county officials became suspicious when one of the claims seemed unusual for a diagnostic center.