A Burbank entrepreneur with a side-hustle in the arms trade has been handed a decade behind bars for slinging ghost guns and meth out of his hookah lounge. Hovik Dagesian, 42, was sentenced Monday in a Los Angeles federal court after a plea deal last September where he copped to unlicensed firearm dealing and drug distribution charges.
According to Justice Department officials, the man's stash included a variety of firearms, ones without serial numbers, — ghost guns — and he did not shy away from selling drugs alongside his illicit arsenal. Specifically, Dagesian dealt an unserialized AR-15-type rifle, 12-gauge shotgun, and, a 9mm handgun, all while peddling meth on the side.
The bust revealed a darker underside of his legitimate façade. Officials uncovered 163.3 grams of meth during a raid on his lounge, along with ammo and an array of firearms ready for sale. Among the weaponry was a sawed-off shotgun, a particularly nasty piece illegal under California law.
Investigators say the total take from Dagesian's illegal dealings amounted to over $34,000. "Dagesian has never been licensed as a dealer, manufacturer or importer of firearms," the criminal complaint clarified, detailing the scope of his underground operation.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Department to bring Dagesian down. The case was a feather in the cap for the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section, which pursued the prosecution doggedly.
