11 charged after allegedly staging robberies to claim victim status on immigration applications

Crime

Officials say Mass. convenience store clerks posed as armed robbery victims to support their U Visa applications.

Authorities have charged 11 Indian nationals in an alleged visa fraud scheme that involved staging armed robberies so that store clerks could claim they were crime victims on immigration applications, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says.

According to a statement from Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office, seven defendants — men and women between the ages of 36 and 45 — were arrested in Massachusetts and released after initial appearances in federal court in Boston Friday.

Four others made appearances in Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio and will face proceedings in Boston federal court at a later date, officials said.

All of the defendants share the last name Patel.

Seven of those charged were illegally living in Massachusetts, including in Marshfield, Randolph, Quincy, Weymouth, Plainville, and Worcester, Foley’s office said.

One defendant, a 40-year-old who had been living in Weymouth, has since been deported to India, officials said.

The scheme began in March 2023, when Rambhai Patel, then 36, carried out staged armed robberies with co-conspirators at at least six convenience stores, liquor stores, and fast food restaurants in Massachusetts and other states, according to charging documents.

Prosecutors said the robberies were designed to help store clerks falsely claim they were victims of violent crimes in applications for U nonimmigrant status, commonly known as a U visa.

A U Visa is available to victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and who assist law enforcement in investigating or prosecuting criminal activity.

According to charging documents, the staged robberies followed a similar pattern: A “robber” would enter the business, threaten clerks with what appeared to be a firearm, take cash from the register and flee, while the incident was captured on surveillance video.

Clerks or store owners would then wait at least five minutes after the robber left before reporting the incident to police, Foley’s office said.

Foley’s office said the clerks — described as the supposed victims — allegedly paid Patel to participate in the scheme. Patel, in turn, allegedly paid store owners for the use of their businesses during the staged robberies.

Patel, who acted as the robber, and the getaway driver, Balwinder Singh, then 39, were charged in December 2023.

In August 2025, Patel was sentenced to 20 months and eight days in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $850,000. Patel and Singh both pleaded guilty in May 2025.

The 11 defendants charged Friday are accused of either arranging robberies with the organizer or paying to participate — either for themselves or for family members — as the purported victims, officials said.

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