A California man accused of participating in a conspiracy with a trucking company that involved stealing trailers filled with televisions from a Portage warehouse is now in the Porter County Jail.
Manpreet Singh, 24, of Manteca, Calif., was extradited from California to face charges in Porter County, said Sgt. Benjamin McFalls, public information officer for the Porter County Sheriff’s Office.
Singh is charged with two counts each of conspiracy to theft and theft, all Level 5 felonies. His initial hearing has been set at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 25 before Judge Michael Fish in Porter Superior Court 1.
There were six men with the last name of Singh charged in Porter County court with participating in the scheme. Lakhwant Singh, 27, was arrested on a warrant for conspiracy to theft and theft charges on Aug. 19 in Wayne County, Indiana. He is out of jail after posting a $25,000 cash bond and $50,000 surety.
Harkirat Singh is identified in court documents as the owner of the now inactive JSW Trans, Inc., with an address out of his home in Fresno, California. He faces the most Level 5 felony charges with six counts each of conspiracy to theft and theft.
A probable cause statement filed in Porter Superior Court outlines how the trucks from JSW Trans, Inc., owned by Harkirat Singh, picked up the Vizio television sets from the UNIS Warehouse, 6515 Ameriplex Dr., 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.
The television sets were valued at $594,754.16. The court documents don’t explain what ultimately happened with all the television sets that failed to reach their destination.
A report was initially filed on Jan. 2 with Portage Police by Omar Raja of GTS Transportation Corp., which had subcontracted the job to JSW, Inc. Raja told police that he chatted with Manpreet Singh, who picked up loads on Dec. 19 and Dec. 26. 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 he contacted Manpreet Singh by phone, and he 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 statement.
The same crew was under investigation in Ohio and Manpreet Singh, driving for another company, is suspected of theft of a shipment from Louisville on Oct. 3, 2024, James Christian of Walmart Global Investigations is quoted as saying in court papers. Christian forwarded the information from his investigation to the federal Homeland Security agency.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.