According to a press release from the Department of Justice, United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Artak Medjbarian, of California, has pled guilty to conspiring with others to attempt to steal $163,000 worth of beef products from a Nebraska Beef facility in Omaha, Nebraska.
In May 2012, Medjbarian, 33, was charged by a federal grand jury for his role in a scheme with others to steal loads of meat cargo. The press release states that Medjbarian and the others pretended to be legitimate freight haulers. The Indictment specifically charged a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to engage in the interstate transportation of stolen property.
The Indictment alleged that Medjbarian used the identity of a legitimate trucking company in Arizona to bid on hauling a load of meat from Nebraska Beef to California.
“Due to discrepancies with respect to the documentation forwarded by unknown co-conspirators on Medjbarian’s behalf, the freight brokers contacted the owners of the true Lopez Trucking, and determined that Lopez Trucking did not have trucks operating under their authority in the State of Nebraska on January 27, 2012, the day Medjbarian showed up at Nebraska Beef pretending to have the transport authority of Lopez Trucking,” the press release states.
The freight brokers contacted the Omaha Police and Medjbarian was initially arrested on local charges.
Sentencing has been scheduled on October 7, 2013. Medjbarian is detained pending sentencing. He faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy conviction.