***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2015

GAS STATION CLERK CONVICTED ON ALL COUNTS FOR SALE OF SYNTHETIC DRUGS AND MONEY LAUNDERING

Media Contact: Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (574) 296-1888

On April 20, 2015 Gurpreet Rimpel Singh was convicted in Elkhart County Superior Court 6 of three counts of Dealing in a Synthetic Drug or Synthetic Drug Lookalike Substance, a Class D felony, and three counts of Money Laundering, a Class D felony. The sentencing follows a March 2015 bench trial where the judge heard arguments and took the matter under advisement.

On three different occasions between February and June of 2014, Gurpreet Rimpel Singh was working as a cashier at Marathon Gas Station, 1850 Bristol Street, in Elkhart County, when he received money from a cooperating source working with the Elkhart Police Department. In return, Singh distributed to the cooperating source synthetic drug lookalike substances in packets labeled “iBlown” and “7H” and containing a green leafy substance that resembled marijuana or synthetic drugs. After receiving the money from the sale of the drugs, the money was placed into the store’s cash register, and Singh would ring the transaction up as a sale of “groceries.”

At trial, Singh and an expert witness called by the defense claimed that his English language and cognitive skills were so limited that he did not realize that the packets that he was distributing were illegal. The State entered into evidence audio and video recordings of the underlying transactions where Singh is heard communicating effectively with the buyer. The State’s evidence also showed that Singh was able to effectively hold a ten minute conversation with detectives investigating the case. The Court noted that Singh’s “expert testimony” was speculative only, given that even the expert who testified on Singh’s behalf admitted that he had no way of knowing whether or not Singh was deliberately attempting to perform poorly on cognitive tests. In his decision the judge also noted that on at least six occasions during the trial the defendant provided relevant answers to questions in English before the translator completed their interpretation.

This case was handled by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Peter Soldato. Sentencing in this case is currently scheduled for June 3, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. in Superior Court 6.

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“Under Indiana law, all persons arrested for a criminal offense are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.”