By CARII Board Member Mario Salas
BURBANK – On April 05, 2019, Hamlet Sahakyan, President of Hamlet BMW Inc. in Glendale CA plead guilty to grand theft in the Burbank Courthouse for his conduct related to the “repair” of his customers M Series BMW.
This case was brought to the attention of the Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) through a consumer complaint. California Association of Regulatory Investigators and Inspectors (CARII) member Nicholas Stewart investigated the matter and found Hamlet Sahakyan defrauded his customer of thousands of dollars in repairs by charging to replace expensive engine components but knowingly did not purchase or replace the failed components. When the victim returned for warranty repairs, Sahakyan charged him for additional unnecessary services to repair the same defect.
As part of a plea deal, Sahakyan was placed on probation and was ordered to pay victim restitution of $4,214.81. Hamlet BMW Inc.’s status as an Automotive Repair Dealer was revoked in September 2018 for its part in defrauding their customer.
“This was not an easy case to investigate, on the surface it looked like a civil dispute but when properly investigated, the hidden crimes are brought to light,” said CARII Board Member Mario Salas. “The CARII board thanks its members for their hard work and diligence when investigating all matters either small or large and for protecting California’s consumers.”
