A man from the San Fernando Valley was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in federal prison on Friday for stealing title to dozens of cars by presenting forged documents to the California Department of Motor Vehicles and for using stolen identities to obtain over $1.5 million in unemployment benefits related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eduard Gasparyan, 38, of Granada Hills, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton and mandated to pay $2.23 million in restitution.
A year ago, Gasparyan entered a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud in a federal court located in Los Angeles.
Gasparyan and his then-fiance, Granada Hills resident Angela Karchyan, 39, stole victim identities and used them to apply for unemployment benefits from the California Employment Development Department, which runs the state’s unemployment insurance program, between at least 2020 and September 2022.
Congress passed epidemic Unemployment Assistance measures in 2020 as the COVID-19 epidemic got worse. These provisions allowed self-employed people, independent contractors, and other people who wouldn’t normally be eligible for unemployment benefits to apply.