The case against a 36-year-old Routt County IT professional accused of defrauding one of his clients out of tens of thousands of dollars could go to trial.
Movses Mikaelyan he faces 96 counts of fraud, among other charges, including cyber crimes and identity theft, and adjudicating the case could require intense scrutiny of evidence and witnesses. The case is still in its early stages and the investigation is ongoing.
Both Mikaelyan and the alleged victim, Albert Deeds, said they have been instructed by counsel not to discuss specifics of the case, but were willing to share some of their general thoughts.
“This is probably going to explode,” said Deeds, who has accused Mikaelyan of siphoning tens of thousands of dollars from Deeds’ business, True North Furs, through various means and multiple fraudulent purchases, according to the arrest affidavit.
The Routt County Sheriff’s Office investigation dates back to November 2020, when Deeds reported about $11,000 in unauthorized charges from a PayPal account set up by Movses for Deeds’ company, according to Movses’ arrest affidavit.
According to the affidavit, Deeds was reluctant to press criminal charges at first, but after more unauthorized transactions came to light, a dispute escalated to the point where Makaelyan took down True North Furs and Makaelyan’s website restricted Deeds’ access to several of his. personal accounts Deeds agreed to press charges in February.
The sheriff’s office investigated the case over the following months, during which more than $87,000 in fraudulent transactions were allegedly identified. Movses was arrested on October 24.
Deeds said he believes others may file similar allegations, saying Mikaelyan has access to private customer information through his company, SteamboatIT, which is still in operation.
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“Movses is a very smart, intelligent guy,” Deeds said. “My question is, is it collecting information from other people’s computers like it did mine? Social Security number? Photo and driver’s license? Bank accounts?”
Google reviews for SteamboatIT.com show a 4.8 out of 5 star rating, with 55 perfect scores with glowing recommendations, but there are also two one-star reviews accusing Mikaelyan of dishonesty without mentioning identity theft.
Mikaelyan has been assigned a public defender and said he is preparing a defense in court, although he has yet to enter a formal plea.
“Nothing has been proven yet,” Mikaelyan said. “No one has shown a shred of evidence. These are just accusations being made.”
Mikaelyan said he has been brought to court on similar charges in the past, but those charges were dropped and he believes the charges he now faces stem from previous run-ins with the law.
“This case didn’t just stem from those cases, those cases are a direct result,” Mikaelyan said. “It stems from what happened back then and that’s what I’m going to prove in court.”
Deeds said he is not surprised that Mikaelyan insists he is innocent.
“Whenever there’s a problem, it’s always the victim,” Deeds said.
Deeds said Mikaelyan lived on his property for about three years after hiring the services of SteamboatIT to handle “search engine optimization” for True North Furs, an aspect of online promotion that Deeds described as as particularly complicated.
“Both my wife and I, we’re seniors,” Deeds said. “We don’t know how to do all these things.”
Mikaelyan said he has lived in Routt County for 12 years and believes his reputation should help him in court.
“I have a history of doing things in my community for over 10 years,” Mikaelyan said.
In January 2020, Mikaelyan piloted a drone to help locate the body of a 25-year-old Oak Creek resident who had gone missing in Oak Creek Canyon.
“I went and spent my time, my energy, risking my very expensive devices to find the missing person,” Mikaelyan recalled.
Deeds described the criminal case as having many moving parts and uncertainty.
“It’s probably going to be a very long, long trial,” Deeds said.
Mikaelyan’s next court appearance is November 30.
To contact Spencer Powell, call 970-871-4229 or email him at spowell@SteamboatPilot.com
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