Reported ‘Armenian Power’ associate sentenced in fraud case

A Glendale man was sentenced to six years in federal prison this week for his involvement in a “sophisticated” debit- and credit-card skimming scheme in which thousands of 99 Cents Only store customers were defrauded out of more than $2 million, officials said.

Rafael Parsadanyan, reportedly an associate of the organized crime ring called Armenian Power, was also ordered to five years of supervised release after serving his prison sentence, according to Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Parsadanyan was convicted on 14 counts of bank fraud in April.

Prosecutors said Mher Darbinyan, a reputed leader of the crime ring also convicted in the scheme, obtained credit-card skimming devices and distributed to co-schemers who would then secretly plant them at 99 Cents Only stores across Southern California.

Darbinyan and Parsadanyan reportedly distributed the victims’ stolen information to co-schemers, who used fraudulent credit cards to withdraw from their bank accounts, according to court records.

The account and personal-identification numbers were then used to scam thousands of victims out of more than $2 million.

The two men were among 90 individuals, the majority of whom have been convicted, charged in 2011 in two indictments targeting Armenian Power.