A 46-year-old Glendale man has pleaded guilty to leading a 14-month scheme that stole 30 United States Postal Service vehicles and rifled through mail belonging to at least 232 people across the Los Angeles area. Vegen Hartoonian admitted to conspiring with a crew that tailed mail carriers in rented vehicles, then swooped in to grab postal trucks the moment drivers stepped away to make deliveries.
How the Crew Operated
Once mail carriers left their trucks to deliver packages on foot, Hartoonian and his accomplices allegedly moved in and drove off with the vehicles, per CBS Los Angeles digital producer Matthew Rodriguez’s reporting. The group then stole the mail inside and drove the trucks to another location, according to the outlet’s account. Prosecutors say the scheme also netted about 100 stolen credit and debit cards along the way.
One specific act detailed in Hartoonian’s plea agreement shows how the credit card theft and vehicle theft fed into each other. In January 2024, according to the Department of Justice, Hartoonian admitted to unlawfully possessing a victim’s credit card number specifically to facilitate the theft of a postal vehicle and the mail inside it in Los Angeles County.
A Documented History With Postal Tools
Hartoonian’s connection to postal theft equipment did not begin with this conspiracy. Back in January 2021, Glendale police arrested him at a hotel on West Glenoaks Boulevard on parole violations and drug charges, according to the Crescenta Valley Weekly. Officers seized methamphetamine, counterfeit bills, and an object resembling a postal arrow key — the type used to open community mailboxes — while Hartoonian was on parole for burglary at the time, the paper reported.
Hartoonian was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit theft of government property and one count of aggravated identity theft, CBS Los Angeles reports. He faces a maximum sentence of seven years in federal prison across both counts. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, a conviction for aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum of two years that must be served consecutively to any other sentence, according to Bulldog Law — meaning federal judges have no statutory authority to let that portion run concurrently with the rest of his punishment.
Sentencing and Co-Defendants
United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder has scheduled Hartoonian’s federal sentencing hearing for December 7, per the Department of Justice. Court records show he has been held in federal custody since October 2025 alongside co-defendants Jose Arviso, a 50-year-old San Bernardino resident; Sanjay Varma, 44, of Pasadena; and Juan Nuñez, 25, of Highland Park — all three of whom have also pleaded guilty to federal charges, according to CBS Los Angeles…