VENTURA, California – District Attorney Gregory D. Totten announced today that Los Angeles County residents Patrick Abrahamian (DOB 1/6/70), Michelle Abrahamian (DOB 5/27/71), and Taline Indra (DOB 2/29/80) were convicted by a jury of offenses relating to the theft of a Bell Canyon home. Patrick Abrahamian was found guilty of three counts of Penal Code section 115, recording or filing a false document. Michelle Abrahamian was found guilty of violating Penal Code section 115 and Penal Code section 475, forgery. Taline Indra was found guilty of violating Penal Code section 115 and Penal Code section 470. The jury also found true special allegations that the value of the loss exceeded $500,000. The charges were the result of an investigation conducted by the District Attorney’s Real Estate Fraud Unit.
In 2012, Patrick Abrahamian approached the 65-year-old victim with an offer to help him negotiate a modification of his mortgage. In return, the victim agreed to move out and lease his home to the Abrahamians while Patrick Abrahamian purportedly negotiated a new mortgage for the victim. At the end of the lease term, the Abrahamians refused to vacate the home. After consulting with an attorney, the victim learned that a forged grant deed had been recorded conveying his home, as a gift, to Michelle Abrahamian. At the time of the offenses, Michelle Abrahamian was a licensed real estate agent.
The forged deed gifting away the victim’s home was fraudulently notarized by defendant Taline Indra, who is Michelle Abrahamian’s sister. Patrick Abrahamian subsequently impersonated the victim in a lawsuit filed by Abrahamian against the victim’s mortgage lender. This impersonation caused additional false documents to be filed in both the Ventura Superior Court and the County Recorder’s Office. Michelle Abrahamian was found in possession of notary acknowledgments that falsely claimed the victim had appeared before Indra to have his signature notarized.
After the guilty verdicts were returned, Judge Michael Lief remanded the defendants into custody to be held without bail pending sentencing. Sentencing for all defendants is scheduled on March 29, 2018, in courtroom 27 of the Ventura Superior Court, County of Ventura. Each defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 11 years in state prison.
