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Ariz. resident guilty of 7 counts of bank fraud in skimming ring case

December 26, 2004

The Arizona Republic: A former Tempe, Ariz., resident was found guilty in federal court for his involvement in an international ATM fraud scheme that ripped off scores of Valley residents of nearly $430,000.

The crime ring began to unravel after a Gilbert, Ariz., resident called police while watching a man withdraw money from an ATM for 45 minutes in May 2003.

Jagdish Singh, 31, of India, who had lived mostly in Tempe since 1996, was found guilty Dec. 17 on seven counts of bank fraud-related crimes by a federal grand jury in Phoenix, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Officials said Singh, his brothers, Gurdev Singh Dhnoay and Lakhvir Singh, and two men recruited from the United Kingdom, Rashpal Cheema and Sukhwinder Paul, were part of a scam to steal money from 277 customer accounts at six banks during four "bursts" of thefts from April 2001 to May 2003.

Cheema and Paul pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud earlier this year and await sentencing.