A California man, accused of participating in a truck cargo theft scheme involving televisions from a Portage warehouse, posted $10,000 in cash bail to be freed from the Porter County Jail and then disappeared.
Manpreet Singh, a native of India who lived in Manteca, is now considered a fugitive.
Singh posted bond on Sept. 29 after he was arrested on a warrant accusing him of four Level 5 felony theft charges connected with loads of television sets from a Portage warehouse in December 2024.
Judge Michael Fish of Porter Superior Court 1 issued a bench warrant for Singh, following his failure to show for a status hearing on Oct. 28. Fish also ordered that once Singh is in custody, he be held without bond.
Six men with the last name of Singh were charged in the theft scheme. It is unknown if the men are related, as Singh is a common last name in India.
The men all worked for JSW Trans, Inc., owned by Harkirat Singh, of Fresno, California. They picked up the Vizio television sets from the UNIS Warehouse, 6515 Ameriplex Dr. in Portage, on Dec. 19 and 26, 2024, for delivery to Sam’s Club warehouses. Three of the deliveries were supposed to be made to Edwardsville, Illinois, two to Shakopee, Minnesota, and one to Oswego, Illinois, according to charging documents.
The television sets, valued at $594,754.16, never got to their destinations.
Harkirat Singh, the accused leader of the scheme who has 12 felony theft charges, is scheduled to go to trial on April 13 in Porter Superior Court 2.
In addition to Manpreet Singh being a fugitive, two of the men charged in the scheme — Daljeet Singh and Gurjit Singh — have yet to be brought in on arrest warrants.
Authorities haven’t explained yet what they believe happened with all of those Vizio television sets.
But a recent federal case where six men were sentenced last month in U.S. District Court in New Albany for their roles in a multi-state cargo theft ring shows how these schemes work.
The ring was coordinated by Juan Perez-Gonzalez, a Cuban national living in Florida, who, with his co-conspirators, stole 14 tractor-trailers containing high-end electronics and other items, which they later sold at a discount for profit, court documents show.
The conspirators would go to distribution facilities used by national companies such as Meta, Microsoft and L Brands in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. They would follow a tractor-trailer and when a driver would stop to rest, steal the vehicle. The cab would be abandoned and the trailer would be hitched to another truck, court documents show.
Miami, Florida, was the final destination for the trailers, where the stolen items were purchased by co-conspirator Richard Alameda, who bought the merchandise at a fraction of normal cost.
“This was a coordinated, multi-million dollar operation — not an opportunistic theft. Cargo theft schemes like this drive up costs for businesses and consumers alike,” said FBI Indianapolis Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. O’Malley, in a news release on the case.
The Portage case is different, as the subcontractor and his co-conspirators are accused of deception in their failure to deliver the televisions to warehouses.
A report was initially filed on Jan. 3, 2025, with Portage Police by Omar Raja of GTS Transportation Corp., who had subcontracted the job to JSW, Inc., led by Harkirat Singh. Raja had received emailed receipts from Harkirat Singh that showed the deliveries had been made, but Sam’s Club representatives told him the television sets never arrived, according to court records.
Raja told police that he chatted with Manpreet Singh, who picked up loads on Dec. 19 and Dec. 26, 2024. Manpreet Singh told Raja that after he received the load on Dec. 26, he met another driver at a local Starbucks, who took the trailer from him.
Portage Police Detective Sgt. Robert Nichols stated that when he contacted Manpreet Singh by cellphone, he immediately hung up, court documents show.
“I have learned that several of these drivers are being investigated by other agencies around the country for doing the same thing while driving under a different company name while using the same vehicles,” Nichols stated in the probable cause affidavit.
The same crew was under investigation in Ohio, and Manpreet Singh, driving for another company, is suspected of theft of a shipment from Louisville, Kentucky, on Oct. 3, 2024, James Christian of Walmart Global Investigations states in court papers. Christian forwarded the information from his investigation to the federal Homeland Security agency.
Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said he believes that federal immigration officials have been contacted about the six men involved in this case.
Court records show that Singh contended during his September hearing that he is a citizen of India and he would be contacting India’s Consulate office.
In the past, if a person convicted was found to be in the country illegally, they would serve their sentence before deportation proceedings, Germann said.
Germann said it’s his intention to try the cases locally, but there have been instances like this where the federal government has taken over and shifted it to their court.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/15/man-accused-in-scam-on-lam/
