LOS ANGELES -- A reputed member of a terrorist group that prosecutors said staged a series of bombings to extort money and avenge the arrest of comrades pleaded guilty Monday to five counts that could result in a 35-year prison term.
Vicken Tcharkhutian, 34, admitted he conspired to bomb the Swiss Bank Corp. in Los Angeles and the Carpeteria Carpet Store in Hollywood. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted bombing of the Swiss consulate in Los Angeles.
All three incidents took place in 1981 and 1982. Tcharkhutian was arrested by the FBI in September at Los Angeles International Airport.
Federal investigators charged Tcharkhutian is a member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, a terrorist group seeking an independent Armenian homeland in eastern Turkey and Turkish acknowledgement of guilt for the 1915 massacre of Armenians.
Three other reputed members of the group were previously convicted in the series of bombings.
Investigators said the bombing of the Swiss bank, the attempted bombing of the Swiss consulate and the 1982 attempted bombing of an Air Canada warehouse were meant to protest the arrests in Canada and Switzerland of other members of the group.
The three Armenians convicted in 1983 of putting a cottage cheese container full of explosives on the doorstep of the warehouse said Tcharkhutian planned the bombing. Police dismantled the bomb before it exploded.
One of the three, Hratch Kozibioukian, said Tcharkhutian forced him to mix the explosives by threatening to kill him and his pregnant wife.
Tcharkhutian also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and extortion for using threats of physical harm in July 1981 to demand $150,000 for the secret army's cause from Ted Haserjian, the president of Carpeteria, a carpet store chain.
Tcharkhutian originally pleaded innocent to the five counts stemming from a 1983 indictment, but his lawyer, Dennis Landin, said his client withdrew his plea because the evidence against him was 'substantial.'
U.S. Attorney Terree Bowers said that with Tcharkhutian's plea, all four members of the Los Angeles cell of the terrorist group have been convicted. U.S. District Judge David Kenyon scheduled a Dec. 7 hearing at which Tcharkhutian could receive a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison and $50,000 fine.
A few days before the attempted Air Canada bombing, Tcharkhutian took a leave of absence from his job as a designer for Fluor Corp. in Irvine and left the country. French officials arrested him but refused to comply with U.S. extradition requests and freed him.
The FBI declined to released details of Tcharkhutian's arrest at International Airport. On Monday, Bowers also declined to comment.
