Man Says Defendant Admitted Extortion : Courts: Armenian immigrant testifies during trial of his business partner, accused of killing brother-in-law.

VAN NUYS —  An Armenian immigrant admitted to his business partner that he extorted money from his sister after she collected life insurance following her husband’s slaying, the partner testified Monday.

Serob Vetsikyan, testifying against Harutian Truzian in Van Nuys Municipal Court, also admitted that the pair burglarized the family-owned candy-manufacturing business in North Hollywood and used the stolen equipment to start a rival firm in Oakland.

Truzian, 40, is accused of extorting $18,000 from his sister, Manoush Baregamian, in the fall of 1992. He is also charged with murdering his brother-in-law, Zaven Baregamian, in February, 1992, in the Baregamians’ Chocolate Delight factory on Saticoy Street.

In a plea bargain that involves no jail time, Vetsikyan pleaded guilty to burglary for breaking into the candy company in March. Prosecutors agreed to the deal in exchange for Vetsikyan’s testimony.

Vetsikyan testified that Truzian asked him in August, 1992, to read a statement over the telephone. Vetsikyan refused and never saw the handwritten statement he was supposed to read, but prosecutors believe that Truzian was seeking help in committing the extortion.

Truzian, working at Chocolate Delight at the time, said he could not make the call because “they will recognize my voice,” Vetsikyan testified.

In other testimony, Manoush Baregamian, who has resumed using her maiden name, said that after receiving the extortion demands, she left $18,000 in a box in her business. Someone smashed a window and removed the money, she testified.

In January, Truzian asked Vetsikyan to hold a large amount of cash, this only weeks after Baregamian paid her blackmailer, according to Vetsikyan’s testimony.

Shortly after, Vetsikyan moved in with Truzian at their Oakland business, he said. Vetsikyan said he asked Truzian where he got all his money, even though he was not working.

“He said he scared her, and she put it in the business and he went and picked it up,” Vetsikyan said of his partner.

“He thought they owed him because of what they had done to him when he came to America,” Vetsikyan said. “He was supposed to be a partner, but instead of being a partner, he was offered a job at minimum wage, but he refused.”

In addition to his anger at the family, Truzian is linked by two other strands of circumstantial evidence to his brother-in-law’s murder, prosecutors say. They are hoping to convince Judge Robert L. Swasey that there is enough evidence to order a trial. A ruling is expected today.

Police recovered a single cigarette butt at the death scene. The stub is the same brand that Truzian smoked. Authorities said they are trying to link the cigarette to Truzian by analyzing a minute amount of saliva on it.

The extortion letter that Manoush Baregamian received also contained an unusual aluminum-jacketed, .25-caliber bullet. The bullet is the same brand and type used to kill Zaven Baregamian. Prosecutors believe that if Truzian was the extortionist, the bullet links him to the killing.