Two men were arrested earlier this month and charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud for allegedly staging eight fake armed robberies to help their "victims" get a special U visa to stay in the country.
According to court documents, Ramhai Patel and Balwinder Singh committed eight staged robberies, four in Massachusetts, two in Pennsylvania, and one in Kentucky and Tennessee, per local news.
In a statement, Acting US Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy described how the alleged scheme worked. "In the course of the alleged staged robberies, the 'robber' would threaten store clerks and/or owners with an apparent firearm before taking cash from the register and fleeing, while the interaction was captured on store surveillance video."
"The clerks and/or owners would then wait five or more minutes until the 'robber' had escaped before calling police to report the 'crime'," he continued. "The 'victims' are alleged to have each paid Patel to participate in the scheme. In turn, Patel allegedly paid the store owners for the use of their stores for the staged robbery.
In seven of the eight instances, a law firm representing the store clerk submitted form 918-B to obtain a U visa. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services states on its website that a U non-immigration status visa "is set aside for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity."
Qualifying criminal acts to obtain a U visa include abduction, extortion, false imprisonment, felonious assault, hostage, and kidnapping, among others. The visa allows an immigrant to remain in the country for four years.
The pair face up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 if they are found guilty in federal district court.
Singh appeared in a federal court in Boston on Thursday, while Patel is expected to appear at a later date.
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