An Armenian singer who was convicted in a plot to blow up the Turkish Embassy in Philadelphia in 1982 took a plea deal Tuesday in Rockingham County Circuit Court after being caught transporting more than 200 pounds of marijuana on Interstate 81 over two years ago.
Karnig Karlos Sarkissian, 68, of Corona, Calif., entered an Alford plea to felony possessing with intent to distribute more than 5 pounds of marijuana. With an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes there’s enough evidence for a conviction. Sarkissian received a five-year sentence, all suspended, and two years of supervised probation.
In 1982, Sarkissian was convicted in federal court in a plot to bomb the Turkish diplomat’s office in Philadelphia.
Harrisonburg lawyer Aaron Cook, Sarkissian’s attorney, told Judge Bruce D. Albertson that Sarkissian had an unblemished criminal record in the past 40 years. Sarkissian has lived in California since 1979 with his wife and family.
Albertson noted that Sarkissian complied with the rules imposed by the federal court system following his 1985 conviction, and has been a positive role model in society since then. Sarkissian’s life choices following his conviction convinced Albertson to accept the deal.
According to court documents, Virginia State Police arrested and charged Sarkissian after finding approximately 230 pounds of marijuana in Sarkissian’s vehicle while he was driving north on Interstate 81 in Rockingham County on Nov. 5, 2019.
As part of the plea deal, a felony charge of transportation of more than 5 pounds of marijuana into Virginia was dropped, because Sarkissian was driving to Washington, D.C., to his friend’s apartment.
A jury trial was originally scheduled in the case.
The Arrest
VSP trooper David Stonebraker said in a police report that he pulled over Sarkissian for wearing headphones while driving in November 2019. While pulled over, Stonebraker noticed “multiple large gray duffel bags that appeared to be brand new, all of the same make and were packed full of something.”
Sarkissian told Stonebraker he was driving to his friend’s apartment in Washington, D.C., according to Stonebraker.
After running Sarkissian’s information, Stonebraker gave Sarkissian a verbal warning and Sarkissian returned to his vehicle, the report said.
“As I shook his hand, I could feel that his palm was very sweaty,” Stonebraker said in the report. “With the indicators of criminal activity that I observed I believed that criminal activity was afoot.”
Stonebraker said he asked Sarkissian if there was anything illegal in his vehicle, and Sarkissian said there was not. Then, the trooper asked if there were guns or a large amount of money in the vehicle, according to the police report. Sarkissian said no.
“I asked him if there were any drugs in the vehicle and Sarkissian’s facial _expression_ changed as he said, ‘No,’” according to Stonebraker’s report. “I asked him if I could search the vehicle and he said, ‘Sure.’”
There, police alleged they found approximately 230 pounds of marijuana in nine duffel bags. Each bag had 12 to 14 heat-sealed large packages, and over 300 vape cartridges with THC and candies with THC.
The 1982 Incident
Sarkissian appeared in Rockingham County General District Court on a motion to set bond in December 2019. There, the judge expressed concern regarding Sarkissian’s past involvement in a 1982 conspiracy to bomb the office of the Turkish Consulate General in Philadelphia, according to court documents.
In federal court, Sarkissian and five co-defendants were charged in a three-count indictment with conspiracy to transport explosive materials and to bomb the Turkish embassy. The bombing did not take place, but all five defendants were found guilty.
Sarkissian, who was 31 at the time, received a five-year sentence in federal prison imposed by U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer.
According to a 1985 Los Angeles Times article, U.S. Attorney Robert C. Bonner sought a 25-year sentence for the defendants, but Pfaelzer said that was “too harsh.”
”The case involves a really terrible tragedy,” Pfaelzer said, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times. “I have no doubt the defendants are basically of good character and unlikely to repeat the acts. Nonetheless, it (the bombing) was methodically planned. It was not amateurish. I must incarcerate the defendants.”
Pfaelzer said the defendants’ actions were the result of years of hostility between Armenians and Turks, and cited the Armenian genocide in the early 1900s, where more than 1 million Armenians were killed.
Sarkissian is best known for singing Armenian patriotic songs.
https://www.dnronline.com/news/crime/armenian-singer-guilty-in-82-terror-plot-pleads-in-pot-bust/article_7c1a0113-290c-5990-8534-36a4f72eda13.html