The fourth suspect was arraigned yesterday in federal court in connection with a scheme to steal debit and credit information from Stop & Shop customers.

Mikael Stepanian, 28, of Studio City, Calif., faces federal charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to U.S. District Court documents. He is one of four men arrested in February at a Stop & Shop in Coventry as they tried to retrieve a doctored personal identification number (PIN) pad from a checkout lane.

Federal and state authorities charged Stepanian and the others with helping divert $132,000 from accounts of customers at two of the supermarket chain’s Rhode Island stores.

The other three suspects, all from California, pleaded guilty in the same case: Gevork Baltadjian, 20, of Winnetka; Arutyun Shatarevyan, 20, of Los Angeles; and Arman Ter-Esayan, 22, of Valley Glen.

Yesterday, Stepanian pleaded innocent to the charges at a short hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge David L. Martin.

But Stepanian last week signed an agreement with the U.S. Attorney to plead guilty, according to court documents. Stepanian is expected to change his plea July 13, when he is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Court Judge William Smith.

Law-enforcement officials said Stepanian and the others flew into Southern New England twice in February to pull off the scheme.

They are accused of removing or trying to remove PIN pads from Stop & Shops in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

The group replaced the devices with doctored machines capable of recording financial information belonging to supermarket customers.

The suspects would return days later to retrieve the doctored PIN pads and extract the information from the units.

State and Coventry police arrested the men Feb. 26 at the Stop & Shop on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry.

At least 1,100 credit and debit accounts were compromised at Stop & Shop stores in Coventry and Cranston, federal officials said. Secret Service agents have confirmed that fraudulent charges or withdrawals totaling $132,000 were made in Arizona and California on at least 232 of the accounts.

The four men are subject to up to five years imprisonment on the first charge and at least two more years in prison on the second charge, plus fines of up to $250,000 on each charge, according to federal court documents.

Sentencing for Ter-Esayan and Baltadjian is set for Sept. 7. Shatarevyan’s sentencing is set for Sept 21.

A sentencing date for Stepanian, should he plead guilty as expected, will not be set until next month’s hearing before Smith.

Smith could reject the deal struck with the government and impose some other sentence, including adding the possibility of being deported should the men commit a crime after their release from prison.

pgrimald@projo.com