‘Wedding crasher stole $60,000 in gifts during newlyweds’ reception’

A man allegedly crashed a wedding reception and made off with about $60,000 in cash and checks in a gift box for the newlyweds.

Armean Shirehjini is accused of showing up to the reception at the Renaissance Banquet Hall in Glendale, California, uninvited around 11pm and hanging around for more than an hour-and-a-half.

CCTV footage from the venue shows him walking around around guests, using the restroom and evening ordering a drink from the bar in the banquet hall area.

A viral clip shows a man wearing all black suddenly grab a large chest from the main room of the reception and run out.

A suspect was captured on CCTV fleeing a wedding reception while holding a gift box (Picture: Glendale Police Department)

‘The suspect, unknown to the victims, ran out of the venue and into an awaiting vehicle driven by a second suspect,’ stated the Glendale Police Department on Friday.

The bride, Nadeen Farahat, told ABC7: ‘As soon as we found out what happened, you know, the music stopped, everything immediately stopped.

‘I ended up sitting on the dance floor, sobbing with my friends and cousins around me.’

The groom, George Farahat, said of the wedding crasher: ‘I think he even tipped the bartender.’

Armean Shirehjini was arrested on Thursday (Picture: Glendale Police Department)

After both suspects fled last week, detectives scoured the surveillance footage and identified Shirehjini. They arrested Shirehjini at his home in Sherman Oaks along with another man identified as the getaway driver, Andranik Avetisyan.

Investigators ‘recovered a large amount of cash and dozens of checks made out to the victims from the wedding’ at the homes of Shirehjini and Avetisyan, who lives in Los Angeles, according to the police department.

They also seized multiple firearms and narcotics from both of the suspects’ homes. Detectives were processing ‘a significant amount of evidence’.

Anyone with information on the crime is urged to contact the police department.

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