Alleged skimmers of ATM will be tried in mid-June

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The two defendants accused of siphoning more than $20,000 from local residents in an elaborate ATM skimming operation last year are scheduled to be tried together in June.

Armen Apoyan, 33, of Los Angeles entered a plea of not guilty in Circuit Court on Thursday by way of video link from Oahu Community Correctional Center to three counts of identity theft. Apoyan was represented by a public defender during his arraignment.

Apoyan and co-defendant Argishti Khachaturyan, 33, also of Los Angeles, are each charged with three counts of first-degree identity theft. Their trial begins the week of June 16 before Circuit Judge Rom Trader.

Apoyan is being held without bail. Khachaturyan, who is represented by attorney Michael Green, also is being held in Oahu Community Correctional Center, unable to post $250,000 bail.

An Oahu grand jury indicted Apoyan and Khachaturyan on Aug. 20 on charges they devised an elaborate ATM skimming operation in Waikiki last year. Apoyan was arrested in Seattle on March 11. He was extradited to Honolulu on Friday. Khachaturyan was arrested Sept. 10 in Los Angeles and extradited to Honolulu, where he pleaded not guilty.

Authorities said the two suspects flew to Hawaii from Los Angeles on Feb. 21, 2013, and installed an "overlay skimming device" over the card-reader slot of a Central Pacific Bank ATM at 2250 Kalakaua Ave., police said. The device was left on the ATM for three days and captured account information of people using the machine.

The men allegedly removed the device and then made counterfeit ATM cards, which they used to withdraw money from victims’ accounts at an ATM in The Modern Hotel, 1775 Ala Moana Blvd., as well as at several other ATMs in Honolulu and California. According to police arrest records, at least five women and two men made complaints.

If convicted, Apoyan and Khachaturyan each face an automatic prison term of up to 20 years, the prosecutor’s office said.

Last year city Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro successfully prosecuted two other Los Angeles men for installing "skimming devices" inside gas pumps at local gas stations. Those men, Akop Changryan and Vardan Kagramanyan, are now serving 20-year prison sentences.