Two California men accused of impersonating ICE agents to pressure victims into surrendering millions of dollars in gold were arrested after police in Pennsylvania allegedly found $215,000 worth of gold bars and coins hidden in their vehicle.
Gagandeep Singh, 24, and Ajaypreet Singh, 22, both from Elk Grove, were arrested on Sept. 10 after Pennsylvania State Police stopped their vehicle on Interstate 80 in Union County, where officers discovered gold beneath the driver and passenger seats and inside Ajaypreet Singh’s shoe, authorities said.
The traffic stop allegedly exposed a much larger fraud operation in which the men posed as federal immigration agents and threatened victims with arrest unless they turned over gold.
Among the material found in the vehicle was an envelope containing a completed identity theft victim complaint and affidavit belonging to Angelo Sala, who reported losing approximately $2.5 million while supposedly under investigation by an ICE agent named Andrew Hall.
Investigators determined that Andrew Hall was allegedly one of the fabricated identities used by the suspects, according to an affidavit released by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Sala was allegedly contacted by phone and Telegram beginning in June, with the suspects telling him he needed to purchase gold and hand it over to a person waiting in a tinted vehicle from out of state to avoid being arrested.
The alleged scheme continued for three months before the suspects were caught, with more than $1.2 million in gold bars and coins allegedly taken from Sala and other victims who have not yet been identified, according to the affidavit.
The suspects’ immigration status has also come under scrutiny.
The official reports provided do not identify their countries of citizenship, but federal authorities placed ICE detainers on both men after they were booked into jail.
Those detainers request that local authorities hold individuals for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so immigration officials can take custody for potential deportation proceedings.
The records do not explicitly establish that either man is a noncitizen, although the ICE detainers indicate that federal immigration authorities are seeking custody of both suspects.
Singh and Singh face multiple felony counts of money laundering, conspiracy and receiving stolen property, and both are being held at Union County Jail on $500,000 cash bail each while the ICE detainers remain in place.
The suspects’ preliminary hearing, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed to a later date to allow them time to secure legal counsel.
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