MAN IN FRAUD CASE MARRIES
By Paul Grimaldi, Journal Staff Writer
Providence Journal, RI
Sept 7 2007
PROVIDENCE – A California man who agreed to plead guilty in May to
federal fraud charges got married this summer while being held in
the intake center at the Adult Correctional Institutions, according
to a court document.
Intake-center marriages are uncommon events, according to the man’s
lawyer and a prison official.
"No. It’s not usual at all," said John E MacDonald, of Larochelle &
MacDonald in Providence. "This was my first in 12 years of practice."
Prison officials field three or four requests a year to allow the
ceremonies, which they are required to grant, according to Tracey
Poole, an ACI spokeswoman. Marriage ceremonies are typically
overseen by a Family Court judge, as was the case July 17, when
Arman Ter-Esayan, of Valley Glen, Calif., married Araz Setaghaian,
of Glendale, Calif.
Ter-Esayan, an Armenian who settled in the Los Angeles area four years
ago, faces the prospect of being deported as a result of his role in
diverting $132,000 from the bank and credit accounts of customers at
two Stop & Shop stores in Rhode Island.
It’s unlikely that the July wedding will lessen his chances of being
deported, or even help reduce a potential prison sentence, legal
observers said.
"It’s not clear to me at all a marriage would have a substantive
effect on his ability to stay in this country," said Peter Margulies,
a professor of law at Roger Williams University. Margulies specializes
in immigration law and national security.
Ter-Esayan, 22, is one of four Californians arrested in February
at a Stop & Shop in Coventry as they tried to retrieve a doctored
personal identification number (PIN) pad from a checkout lane. The
other men are: Gevork Baltadjian, 20, of Winnetka; Mikael Stepanian,
28, of Studio City; and Arutyun Shatarevyan, 20, of Los Angeles.
Videotape evidence links the men to 1,100 account thefts at Stop &
Shops in Providence, Cranston and Coventry, and ultimately, to ATM
withdrawals made in California, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
In the days leading up to their arrest, the men removed or tried to
remove original PIN pads from at least six stores in Rhode Island
and Massachusetts, according to authorities.
"It is clear from the offense facts that neither Ter-Esayan nor any
of his coconspirators had any connection whatsoever to Rhode Island,"
said Lee H. Vilker, an assistant U.S. Attorney, in a court document.
"The defendants simply viewed Rhode Island as a location they could
quickly victimize before they returned to California and transferred
Rhode Islanders’ account information to others involved in this
conspiracy."
All four men agreed this year to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy
to commit fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result of deals
they signed with federal prosecutors.
Ter-Esayan and Baltadjian are set to be sentenced this morning in
U.S. District Court, Providence. Sentencing for Stepanian is set for
Nov. 2. Shatarevyan is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 30.
All four could get up to five years in prison on the first charge
and at least two more years in prison on the second charge, as well
as fines of up to $250,000 on each charge, according to federal court
documents. The men would remain on probation for at least three years
after their release, if U.S. District Judge William Smith approves
the agreement.
Smith could reject the deal they’ve struck with the government and
impose some other sentence; including adding the possibility of being
deported should they commit a crime after their release from prison.
None of the four men being held in connection with the theft is a
U.S. citizen, according to statements made in earlier hearings.
The four men are Armenian, though they hold permanent-resident alien
status in the United States, said Magistrate Judge David L. Martin.
Three of the men – Stepanian, Baltadjian and Shatarevyan – arrived
in the United States from Armenia in 1993, and Ter-Esayan in 2003.
In a document filed in advance of today’s hearing, Ter-Esayan’s
lawyers tried to depict him as having established strong ties to his
California community.
In Glendale, outside of Los Angeles, about one-third of the city’s
206,000 residents are Armenian. Among them is Setaghaian, who
Ter-Esayan began dating after he joined his family in this country,
according to the document.
"They fell in love and eventually Mr. Ter-Esayan proposed," the
document states.
The wedding was set for Nov. 8.
According to the Aug. 31 filing, Setaghaian was "stunned" by the news
of Ter-Esayan’s arrest. Attempts by The Journal to contact Setaghaian,
or confirm, the date and place of the wedding, were unsuccessful. She
apparently agreed to go through with a wedding, move up the date and
travel to Rhode Island for the event.
It’s uncertain, though, how soon the couple could be together.
If the court accepts his guilty plea, and the deal that goes with it,
Ter-Esayan will probably spend more time in jail.
"The prison time in this [case] doesn’t really matter," said Carl
Krueger, a lawyer with the International Institute of Rhode Island
After that, the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement could
begin deportation proceedings against him. "The immigration law
creates a presumption that it’s a sham marriage," Krueger said.
If he’s deported, Ter-Esayan could be barred from legally reentering
the country for at least 10 years, Krueger and others said.
"The reality is [that] it is nearly impossible to lawfully reenter
the United States after deportation," MacDonald said.