Deputies recover $400k in stolen Amazon merch. 2 men arrested in Modesto, Turlock
Detectives with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office recovered about $400,000 worth of stolen Amazon merchandise and arrested two men after serving multiple search warrants in Modesto and Turlock, authorities said.
The Sheriff’s Office General Crimes Unit began investigating after about $500,000 in electronics was reported stolen while being shipped from the East Coast to an Amazon facility in California, officials said.
Detective Raj Singh told The Bee the shipment included record players, Bluetooth speakers and surround-sound systems. The cargo was stolen sometime after it arrived in California in April.
“It’s still an active investigation,” Singh said. “We don’t know yet if the truck was broken into or if there was involvement by the trucking company, but at some point after it arrived in California and before reaching its final destination, the theft occurred.”
The vendor, based in the Northeast, noticed the loss months later when he saw his products for sale on eBay. After tracing the listings to a seller in Stanislaus County, he contacted the Sheriff’s Office sometime in August.
Working with eBay and securing search warrants, detectives identified a residence in Turlock and two commercial properties in Modesto tied to the suspects. They recovered 25 pallets of stolen goods and arrested Ravinder Singh, 58, of Turlock, and Nepal Singh, 36, of Modesto, on suspicion of possessing stolen property.
Detective Singh said the scale of the theft suggests potential coordination beyond a single actor. “Your average person isn’t going to be able to coordinate taking an entire semi-truck full of cargo,” he said. “There are definitely some red flags we’re still looking into.”
Both men were booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center. The investigation remains ongoing.
