California: A federal jury in the United States has convicted two Indian nationals hailing from Punjab for orchestrating a sophisticated freight theft scheme that siphoned at least $2 million worth of consumer merchandise from warehouses across Southern California and Texas. The convictions conclude a multi-agency federal probe into commercial supply chain exploitation and fraudulent transportation operations.
The defendants, identified as 28-year-old Arshpreet Singh of Sacramento and 31-year-old Vikramjit Singh of Fontana, were both found guilty of conspiracy to steal interstate shipments. In addition to the primary charge, the jury convicted Arshpreet of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while Vikramjit was acquitted of the wire fraud count.
United States federal prosecutors detailed how the men and their accomplices acquired established, legitimate trucking firms or misappropriated their corporate credentials to secure high-value freight contracts through logistics platforms, including Uber Freight. Rather than hauling the booked merchandise to scheduled destinations, the perpetrators diverted the trucks, offloaded the high-value commercial shipments, and redirected the cargo into the black market.
The illicit operation, active between March 2024 and June 2025, targeted high-demand merchandise such as televisions, laptops, household appliances, robotic vacuum cleaners, LED fixtures, footwear, tires, and solar panels. Prosecutors established that warehouse thefts occurred across several Southern California hubs, including Fontana, Vernon, Santa Fe Springs, Long Beach, Compton, Commerce, Chino, and Moreno Valley, alongside commercial facilities in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Court documents show that in March 2024, Arshpreet agreed to purchase Texas-based carrier Z&F Transportation LLC for roughly $22,000, using the business credentials to pick up a truckload of televisions in Fontana that was meant for delivery in Florida but vanished. The syndicate subsequently acquired Skyways Trucking LLC in May 2024 to book additional shipments containing electronics and solar hardware.
The joint investigation was spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and several regional police departments across California and Texas. A federal judge has scheduled sentencing for January 20, 2027, where Arshpreet faces up to 20 years in federal prison and Vikramjit faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years.
