Glendale Man Sentenced for Using Credit and Debit Card Skimmers at Gas Stations to Steal Nearly $200,000 in Fresno and Southern California

FRESNO, Calif. — Akop Dongelyan, 47, of Glendale, was sentenced today to 364 days in prison for conspiring to commit credit and debit card fraud, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, in November 2015, Dongelyan and co-defendant Artak Vardanyan went on a crime spree in Fresno and Southern California where they stole multiple victims’ credit and debit card information through skimmers placed at gas stations. They then used that information to make counterfeit credit and debit cards and stole over $195,000 from the victims’ accounts.

On Feb. 12, 2024, Vardanyan was sentenced to 11 months in prison.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Barton and Arelis Clemente prosecuted the case.