Indian-origin man, US cops charged in fake robbery scam to get immigrants U-visas

An Indian-origin restaurateur has been named as the central figure in a federal indictment charging him with orchestrating a nearly decade-long fraud scheme to fabricate police reports to help illegal immigrants apply for U-visas that allow certain crime victims to stay in the US, according to Louisiana officials. Four law enforcement officers, including three small-town Louisiana police chiefs are also among the accused.

This comes amid the Donald Trump administration is working to close loopholes that let illegal immigrants remain in the US. Interestingly, more and more incidents of staged armed robberies to secure U-visas are being uncovered.

Federal prosecutors allege that Chandrakant Patel, alias Lala, from Oakdale in Louisiana, along with three active and one former small-town police chief, conspired to falsify crime reports to help non-citizens fraudulently obtain U-visas – special visas intended for victims of crimes who cooperate with US law enforcement.

US Attorney Alexander C Van Hook, at a news conference in Lafayette, said the police officials were paid $5,000 (Rs 4.18 lakh) for each name they provided falsified reports for, and that there were hundreds of names over the years, news agency Associated Press (AP) reported.

There had been “an unusual concentration of armed robberies of people who were not from Louisiana,” Van Hook said, noting that two other people were also charged in the alleged scheme, AP reported. He clarified that the armed robberies never took place.

Hook added that the U-visas also allowed family members to remain in the country. He added that over “hundreds of visas” were approved, according to a Louisiana-based news channel, WBRZ 2.

Patel also bribed a member of the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office $5,000 on February 18, 2025, with the intent to influence and reward them in exchange for a fraudulent police report from the Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office, WBRZ 2 reported.

The investigation into the visa scheme began following a tip from immigration services in 2024 regarding the alleged crimes in central and western Louisiana, according to Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Eric DeLaune.

Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Shreveport charged the five accused with 62 criminal counts, including working together to commit visa fraud, taking bribes, mailing false documents, and laundering money, according to Van Hook.

Those charged are Oakdale Police Chief Chad Doyle, Forest Hill Police Chief Glynn Dixon, former Glenmora Police Chief Tebo Onishea, Michael “Freck” Slaney, a marshal in Oakdale, and Chandrakant “Lala” Patel, an Oakdale businessman.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS PAID TO BE FALSELY NAMED AS ARMED ROBBERY VICTIMS

Multi-agencies, including US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice, are probing the matter.

The indictment alleges that as part of this conspiracy to defraud the government, aliens seeking U-visas would contact Patel – or another facilitator who would then contact Patel – to be named as “victims” in police reports alleging that an armed robbery had occurred, so that they could apply for the visas, USCIS said in a statement issued on Thursday.

The indictment also alleges that aliens paid Patel thousands of dollars to participate, and in exchange, Patel would ask his co-conspirators, including Doyle, Slaney, Dixon, and Onishea, to write false police reports naming the aliens as victims of alleged armed robberies and provide certification and attestation of USCIS Form I-918B supporting documents as representatives of their respective law enforcement agencies, it added.

The fraud scheme dates back to December 2015 and saw the group conspiring to fraudulently obtain U-visas reserved for victims of crimes like armed robbery.

If convicted, the defendants could face years or even decades of jail time. Court and jail records don’t list attorneys for any of them, AP reported.

Earlier in May, an Indian man, Rambhal Patel, in New York pleaded guilty to staging robberies at nine locations across the country, exposing a big visa racket to help Indian illegal immigrants stay back in the US. Since March 2023, Rambhal Patel and his accomplices staged at least nine robberies across American states.

– Ends