Feds charge some Massachusetts liquor-store and market robberies this year were actually part of an elaborate immigration scheme; two arrested

The US Attorney's office in Boston charges two men figured out how to profit from a visa program available to non-citizens who are victims of certain violent crimes and then help police: Stage gunpoint robberies at their workplaces and then have them tell police they were robbed.

Unfortunately for Rambhai Patel, 36, and Balwinder Singh, 39, the plan worked too well. After police in Massachusetts and other states compared notes and realized one guy seemed to be holding up a lot of stores, the FBI came in and quickly found evidence not only linking the two to the robberies but that something was afoot beyond some guy flying around the country just to rob convenience stores at $200 or so a pop, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent on the case:

For example, toll records analysis showed that some purported victims of the supposed robberies were in contact with PATEL before the robberies. Also, investigation revealed that one of the individuals tasked with committing the robberies had traveled via airplane to commit a robbery in circumstances where the money likely to be obtained during the robbery could reasonably be expected to have been less than the cost of the travel to commit the robbery. The FBI also learned about immigration-related activity of several store employees following their purported victimization during the robberies. As a result of these unusual factors, during the course of the investigation, the FBI began to suspect that the SUBJECT PERSONS and co-conspirators, both known and unknown, were engaged in a visa fraud scheme, rather than a series of Hobbs Act robberies.

Patel allegedly hatched the plan to offer people who wanted to stay in the US access to "U visas," meant for "victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who have been helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity."

After the "robberies," which Patel would allegedly set up after ensuring no customers were in the shops, the affidavit states, victims would talk to local police detectives, then go back to the police to ask them to fill out the 918-B form required for them to get one of these visas.

According to the affidavit, a co-conspirator who agreed to cooperate with the FBI told agents the "victims" paid Patel $10,000 apiece for his services. The amount was not, however, pure profit: Patel paid the "gunman" in each case $1,500 and also made payments of $1,500 to $2,000 to the alleged victim's employers to allow the "robberies" to take place. Singh, meanwhile, got only $500 per "robbery" to act as Patel's get-away driver.

The affidavit describes a Nov. 15 phone call between Patel, the co-conspirator and an FBI agent acting as somebody whom the co-conspirator told Patel was willing to play robber in the scheme. The agent got Patel to describe what would happen:

PATEL: Just you will go inside, I will let you know what time you need to go, like, like, give exact times, and stuff like that, so it's no one inside in the store, the store is empty, there's a guy, like two guys inside, just so, and like hands up, give me money, and just you know come back from that, nothing else.

UCE: You say I say that to a guy, are these guys like your people? Like you know these people?

PATEL: Uh, I know that peoples, but you know the customers, whenever the customer doesn't have in the store, that time you can go inside ...

UCE: Ok, now now how does it go down? Do I got to hop the counter, do I need to pull the gun out, what do you need me to do?

PATEL: Just show the gun, that's it, just [unintelligible] hands up, just you know, just take it up from the register, the money, and just give it to me, that's it. ...

UCE: So you sure they don't call the police, man? This shit sound a little too good to be true, man. You know what I mean, like, are you sure?

PATEL: Yeah, he can call like after fifteen minutes, don't worry.

UCE: And, and what about for, like how I look and shit, they're not going to tell how I look or nothing close to how I look, how does that work?

PATEL: No, they, they, they doesn't tell, don't worry.

Among the stores "robbed" in the scheme according to the affidavit: Richdale Food Shops in Hingham on March 22, Michael's Wine & Spirits in Weymouth on June 6, Yogi's Liquors in Marshfield on June 9 and Jimmy's Market & Liquors in Randolph on Sept. 11.

Both Patel and Singh face one count each of conspiracy to commit visa fraud. Both men were arrested Dec. 13 - Patel in Seattle and Singh in Queens. If convicted, they face up to five years in federal prison.

Innocent, etc.