Readers of It's a crime and dailynews.com have seen these stories crop up from time to time. Groups of folks getting together, buying medical clinics, and setting themselves up as providers of federal and state health care programs. They then forge documents saying they've performed medical tests when in fact they haven't. Then they get reimbursed by the government for those purported services. And then with the money, pay off associates, buy real estate, more phony clinics and stash money away for "retirement" in bank accounts overseas.

Pretty smart, right? Well, check out how one accused fraudster was caught - during a routine traffic stop. Go figure.

GLENDALE - An ex-con on probation for attempted extortion and who was wanted by the FBI in a federal health care fraud case was arrested last week after Glendale police spotted him driving a sport utility vehicle without license plates and straddling a lane, police said.

Sarkis "Sako" Militonyan was arrested Jan. 27, the day before his 44th birthday, at West Glenoaks Boulevard and Sonora Avenue, after police noticed the white Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving was straddling lanes and had no plates, said Glendale Police spokesman John Balian.

Police discovered he was a fugitive and a search of his SUV turned up several copies of purportedly stolen California drivers licenses, social security numbers, and banking routing and account numbers, Balian said.

A search at his Los Angeles home turned up two boxes of .380 caliber automatic pistol rounds, which, under the terms of his probation, he was barred from possessing, police said.

Militonyan was being held in federal custody, Balian said.

In December, a federal grand jury charged Militonyan and a doctor identified in court papers as Michael Streams with health care fraud.

Militonyan is accused of financing and operating at least two illicit medical clinics in Los Angeles, according to the indictment. Using the doctor's legitimate Medicare provider number, the men are accused of billing the taxpayer-funded federal Medicare program for services and tests that were not necessary or were not provided, then taking the cash for themselves, according to the indictment.

Between July 2001 and March 2003, the men are accused of billing Medicare for some $5 million and receiving $1.5 million, court papers say.

Neither Militonyan's attorneys nor FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller immediately returned calls seeking comment for this story.

Militonyan was convicted Jan. 7, 1998 of property theft. On Aug. 1, 2005, he was convicted of attempted extortion, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court records online.

Details about the attempted extortion case could not immediately be confirmed.

Federal, state and local police say health care fraud is a massive problem in Southern California and is being perpetrated by a large number of individuals from Armenia and other former communist countries, some with murky ties to organized crime.

Last year, five members of a Russian-Armenian organized crime ring were convicted after pleading guilty in connection with a $20 million Medicare fraud conspiracy that operated out of clinics and labs in L.A., Glendale, Van Nuys and Pasadena.

It was a case that Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Searby said was "representative of a major problem in the area."

"It's widespread. Medicare expenses generally are busting the federal budget."

Last June, a husband and wife from Glendale and two female accomplices from the San Fernando Valley were charged in connection with running an adult day health care center out of a church community room, endangering senior citizens by having uncredentialed social workers conduct home assessments and filing false claims to the state's Medi-Cal program, state officials said.

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