A man who police identified as the leader of a scheme to divert six freight loads of televisions worth $594,754.16 is in custody. The televisions never reached their destination after being picked up last December from a Portage warehouse.
Harkirat Singh, 26, was brought to the Porter County Jail Thursday by an extradition agency, said Sgt. Benjamin McFalls, spokesman for the Porter County Sheriff’s Department.
Singh’s address was listed as Avon, an Indianapolis suburb, but when he was originally charged during the summer, he lived in Fresno, California, which was the base for the JSW Trans, Inc. trucking firm involved in the case.
Harkirat Singh faces 12 felony charges, six each of theft and conspiracy to commit theft. There are five other men named Singh who are also charged in the case. Three of them — Jasdeep Singh, 31, Lahkwant Singh, 27, and Manpreet Singh, 24, all from California — were arrested earlier.
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Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said after Jasdeep Singh was brought to jail earlier this week that he heard Immigration and Customs Enforcement was interested. Germann said he didn’t have information about ICE’s potential interest in Harkirat Singh.
McFalls said there isn’t an ICE hold on Harkirat Singh at this time.
During a news conference in Gary on Thursday, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned that 146 undocumented immigrants picked up in the state recently by ICE were involved in trucking.
A probable cause statement filed in Porter Superior Court outlines how the trucks from JSW Trans, Inc. picked up Vizio television sets from the UNIS Warehouse in Portage on Dec. 19 and 26 for delivery to Sam’s Club warehouses in Edwardsville, Illinois, Oswego, Illinois and Shakopee, Minnesota.
The television sets — valued at $594,754.16 — were never delivered. Investigators have never revealed what they believe happened with the merchandise. The investigation found that with four of the trucks, the accused drove close to the distribution centers but never entered them.
Omar Raja of GTS Transportation Corp. subcontracted the job to JSW Trans, Inc. Raja had received emails from Harkirat Singh with paperwork purported to be “proof of delivery.” But then Raja got calls from Sam’s Club, stating the television sets never arrived, court records show.
Raja realized that he had received fraudulent paperwork and he called Harkirat Singh, who stated he would look into it.
Portage Police Detective Sgt. Robert Nichols managed to get Harkirat Singh on the phone, who explained that he was in India for two months. Harkirat Singh said he had seven drivers and five trucks, but declined to discuss who his drivers were.
And while Harkirat Singh stated he was in India, Nichols heard a GPS device in the background giving information about a location in Indianapolis, court records said.
Harkirat Singh hung up on Nichols. Nichols stated that he tried repeatedly to contact Harkirat Singh again to no avail.
During the course of the investigation, Nichols said he found that the same crew was being investigated for similar types of thefts in Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky.
Harkirat Singh is scheduled to appear for an initial hearing at 9 a.m. Monday in Porter Superior Court before Judge Jeffrey Clymer.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.