Plea Agreement Reached for Man Arrested Outside Obama Event

In this photo provided by the Wapello County sheriffs office, Davit Zakaryan, 24, of Cincinnati, Ohio, is shown. Zakaryan was arrested in Ottumwa, Iowa, Wednesday, July 4, 2007, outside the Fairfield Inn hotel where Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was staying. Secret Service agents saw him loitering near the hotel and asked police to question him. He was charged with possessing an illegal weapon and driving without a license after police found a knife larger than the 8-inch legal blade limit in Iowa. (AP Photo/Wapello County sheriffs office)

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Plea Agreement Reached for Man Arrested Outside Obama Event

By Becky Ogann

DES MOINES (AP) - Prosecutors have reached a plea agreement with a man who was charged with carrying an unlawful knife outside an Ottumwa hotel where Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and his family stayed in July 2007.

The case was against Davit Zakaryan, an Armenian native who was in Ottumwa selling campaign memorabilia when he arrested on July 4, 2007, outside the hotel where Obama and his family stayed the previous night.

Zakaryan and his attorney maintained the item found in a seat pocket of Zakaryan's vehicle was an ornamental letter opener, not a knife.

This month, prosecutors dismissed the knife charge and Zakaryan pleaded guilty to a simple misdemeanor charge of interference with official acts.

Under the agreement, officials say Zakaryan will get a 30-day suspended jail sentence.
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