U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Gangs Update

Los Angeles-area police officer arrested on federal charges of lying to federal agents investigating his ties to organized crime

LOS ANGELES – Agents and officers associated with a multi-agency organized crime task force this afternoon arrested a Glendale (Calif.) Police officer on federal charges of making false statements during interviews with investigators who were probing his connections to the Mexican Mafia and Armenian organized crime.

Detective John Saro Balian, 45, of Seal Beach, Calif., was taken into custody without incident at his residence. Balian, who is charged in a criminal complaint with making false statements to investigators during an interview last year, is expected to make his initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The case against Balian is the result of an ongoing investigation by the Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force, which is made up of special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, as well as officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Glendale Police Department, the Burbank Police Department and the California Department of Health Care Services.

According to the complaint, which was filed Monday and unsealed after his arrest, Balian was interviewed by several law enforcement agencies over a six-month period in 2017 and repeatedly made false statements and misrepresentations about his links to criminal figures.

More