Man faces life in prison

A 36-year-old man was found guilty this week of kidnapping a Burbank woman in 2006 and then raping her at a hotel in Glendale, officials said.

Edward Nikolayan was convicted Monday of kidnapping, drugging, raping and assaulting the woman on Sept. 19, 2006, according to Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

He faces life in prison when he is sentenced on May 16 in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pasadena, according Robison.

U.S. Marshals arrested Nikolayan in December 2009 in New York on an outstanding arrest warrant related to the rape case, according to Glendale police.

Detectives collected clothing, DNA evidence and surveillance video at the scene tying him and his co-defendant, Tigran Bedrosian, to the rape and kidnapping, according to U.S. District Court records.

He and Bedrosian met the woman at the Elephant Bar in Burbank, where authorities say they drugged her drinks. Bedrosian reportedly met the woman earlier that day at a car rental business, exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet her at the restaurant later.

The woman lost consciousness and when she awoke, discovered she was alone, naked and bleeding at the Motel Sakura in Glendale, according to court records.

She found her dress, which smelled like vomit, in a trash can. Bedrosian’s phone number had been erased from her cell phone. She was in pain and had bruises on her wrists and right arm.

After leaving the motel room, the woman flagged down a police patrol car.

Surveillance video showed a Dodge Magnum, which Bedrosian rented that day, pulling in the motel parking lot and colliding with another vehicle, according to U.S. District Court records.

Footage showed Nikolayan and Bedrosian pulling the woman out of the Dodge, covering her in a comforter, carrying her up a staircase and entering the motel room. The pair was later seen exiting the room and driving off.

In October, Bedrosian crossed on foot into the U.S. from Mexico, where an agent discovered he was being sought by police and was arrested. He was convicted in June 2009 of assault with the intent to commit rape, and raping an intoxicated woman, according to court records.

In 2011, Bedrosian, now a registered sex offender, tried unsuccessfully to appeal the conviction.

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