Charges Filed Against South Bay Man Associated With Armenian Gang

GARDENA, CA — A South Bay man already facing murder charges is now suspected of kidnapping people to help an Armenian crime syndicate maintain control of its territory in the San Fernando Valley, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Gardena resident Ivan Bojorquez, 33, faces at least one count of kidnapping for his role in the Armenian Organized Crime group, according to the United States Attorney's Office. He's currently in state custody facing murder charges for a separate crime, federal prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors say Bojorquez, also known as Stal, performed "favors," including kidnapping, assault and torture, for Hollywood resident Robert Amiryan, the leader of the crime group.

"Amiryan commanded respect and occupied a position of power within the Armenian criminal community in the greater Los Angeles area," according to police, who wrote in a complaint that as the group's leader, Amiryan recruited non-Armenian criminal associates to commit crimes for him.

It's unclear when Bojorquez began working with the organization, but he, along with Amiryan and at least 11 other members or associates of the crime group, became the target of a police investigation in the summer of 2023, according to authorities.

Around this time, the Armenian crime group was at war with a rival gang, according to the complaint. On June 6, 2023, Bojorquez and other members of the crime group kidnapped, assaulted and tortured a man from a rival Armenian crime group.

But the man managed to escape and returned home, according to the complaint. Police then served a warrant at a home in Sun Valley where the man was being held captive, according to the complaint.

There, officers found blood splattered throughout the home, body armor, bullet holes and an orange two-way radio.

Following an investigation, which included picking up fingerprints from items found at the home and Ring camera footage, police identified members of the crime group involved in the kidnapping and torture of the man, which included Bojorquez.

Authorities also discovered that the kidnapping was prompted by the leader of a rival crime group, Proter Ranch resident Ara Artuni, ordering the murder of Amiryan, federal prosecutors said.

Artuni, who federal prosecutors say has run a criminal enterprise since 2021 that has stolen more than $83 million from Amazon through cargo theft and committed bank and wire fraud, has since been charged with attempted murder in aid of racketeering.

Amiryan, meanwhile, faces kidnapping charges in connection with kidnapping one of Artuni's associates, federal prosecutors said.

Acting Deputy Special Agent for Homeland Security Investigations Dwayne Angebrandt said in a statement Tuesday that the crime syndicates operated with "the structure and brutality" of an international cartel.

“Dismantling transnational criminal organizations is at the core of HSI’s mission, and through close collaboration with our law enforcement partners, we are holding these perpetrators accountable and disrupting their criminal enterprise at every level," Angebrandt said.