A 46-year-old man from Glendale pleaded guilty to a federal case on September 11th. Prosecutors accused him of conspiring with accomplices to steal around 30 United States Postal Service (USPS) vehicles and the mail inside them, affecting over 200 victims.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that Vegen Hartoonian admitted to conspiring to steal government property and one count of aggravated identity theft. He has been in federal custody since October 2025.
According to the plea agreement, Hartoonian and his cohorts tracked USPS vehicles from September 2023 to November 2024, waiting for mail carriers to exit the vehicles for mail delivery, then seizing the opportunity to steal the postal vehicles and drive them to other locations to take the mail inside.
Prosecutors revealed that Hartoonian and his accomplices collectively stole approximately 30 USPS vehicles valued at $11,651 each, as well as mail from around 232 victims. They also illegally possessed 100 credit and debit cards belonging to others.
The incidents occurred in Glendale, Culver City, Commerce, as well as neighborhoods in Los Angeles such as Eagle Rock, Hollywood, Mount Washington, Silver Lake, and West Adams.
Prosecutors noted that the accomplices used rental vehicles including Dodge Caravans, BMWs, GMC sport utility vehicles, and Mitsubishi Outlanders to track USPS vehicles. One of the rental cars was used in a theft case in September 2023.
Hartoonian also admitted that in January 2024, he attempted to steal a USPS vehicle and the mail inside it, illegally possessing a victim’s credit card number during the process.
U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder has set the sentencing date for December 7th. Hartoonian faces a maximum of 7 years in federal prison.
In another case, three defendants have pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges and are currently in federal detention, while another defendant who refuses to plead guilty is set to stand trial in January 2027.
Last December, the Central District of California U.S. Attorney’s Office also announced the sentencing outcome of a mail theft case. A former USPS mail carrier from Torrance was sentenced to 63 months, or 5 years and 3 months in prison, and ordered to pay $660,000 in restitution.
Prosecutors revealed that Mary Ann Magdamit, a 31-year-old at the time, used her position as a USPS carrier from 2022 to July 2025 to steal mail containing checks, personal identifying information (PII), financial cards, and credit cards. She used the stolen bank cards online and sold some of the stolen cards to accomplices.
Magdamit also arranged for accomplices to cash stolen checks using forged identification. Federal Credit Unions and Banks also suffered losses in this fraud scheme.
In December 2024, when law enforcement searched the defendant’s apartment, they confiscated 133 stolen credit and debit cards, 16 U.S. Treasury checks, and a Glock replica gun with a 27-round extended magazine, commonly referred to as a “ghost gun.”