Three Chatsworth women plead not guilty in gun case
Three Chatsworth women pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that they brought a gun to Allan Daily High School to scare a 17-year-old student into paying $500 for traffic collision repairs, officials said.
Sona Carrillo, 37, Nora Tashchyan, 41, and Goharik Tashchyan, 18, each face one felony count of possessing a firearm in a school zone, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint.
At about 4:40 p.m. Wednesday, the trio reportedly went to the high school in the 200 block of North Kenwood Street to threaten the girl and collect $500 they claimed was owed to them due to a traffic collision that occurred a few days before in North Hollywood, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.
Goharik Tashchyan and the girl, who was reportedly the passenger and who was not identified by police, were driving around North Hollywood in a 740 BMW when the driver lost control and hit a curb, causing damage to the car, Lorenz said. The girls were reportedly friends.
The girl reportedly offered to help Goharik Tashchyan, who is not a Daily High student, pay for repairs so she wouldn’t get in to trouble, Lorenz said.
But according to police, Goharik Tashchyan reportedly told her family that she wasn’t driving the BMW and that the girl owed her money.
Soon after, the girl began receiving text messages threatening her life, so she reported the incident on Wednesday to school officials and Glendale police officers.
“The student did everything we would want any student to do, and that is notify the administration or any adult on campus,” Glendale Unified Supt. Dick Sheehan said.
As officers talked to the girl, school security personnel reported seeing Nora Tashchyan place an item in the trunk of her 1999 Chrysler Sebring when the three women arrived at the campus, Lorenz said.
Carrillo, Nora Tashchyan and her daughter, Goharik, reportedly approached the campus and asked for the girl, but school security stopped them from entering.
The girl identified the trio as having sent her threatening text messages, Lorenz said.
Officers searched the trunk of the Sebring and found a .22 caliber handgun, he added.
In addition to the firearm charge, Nora Tashchyan and her daughter, Goharik, were also charged with felony making threats against the girl, who “sustained fear” for her safety and that of her family, according to the criminal complaint.
Tashchyan, who was convicted of making threats in 2007 and grand theft in 2009, faces additional felony charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, according to the complaint.
Carrillo, who is related to the mother and daughter, was also convicted of making threats in 2007 and stalking in 2009, according to the criminal complaint.
While Carrillo and Nora Tashchyan denied threatening the girl, Goharik Tashchyan reportedly admitted to sending text messages, Lorenz said, but denied threatening to kill or shoot anyone.
The trio is scheduled to appear in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 25.
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