Missing Texas’ child’s step-dad flees to India after stealing $10,000
Arshdeep Singh faces charges of felony theft and abandoning or endangering a child
Just hours before 6-year-old Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez’s family fled to India, his stepfather stole $10,000 in cash from his employer, a company that owns convenience stores across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to police.
Less than 24 hours before the family left the country, the plane tickets were purchased on a credit card belonging to Arshdeep Singh, Dallas Morning News reported citing Everman, Texas, police Chief Craig Spencer.
Read: Mya Patel’s killer sentenced to 100 years in prison (March 28, 2023)
Noel, who is presumed dead, has been missing for six months and is the subject of an extensive search in Tarrant County,
A few days after a welfare check was conducted at the home where Noel lived, his mother, his stepfather and six of his siblings boarded an international flight. Noel was not a passenger.
“Mere hours” before the flight, Spencer said, Singh fraudulently altered his company’s cash deposit records and took $10,000 in cash from the company’s safe. Spencer said Singh worked for.
Singh then promptly deposited $8,000 into his personal account at a bank, Spencer said, a transaction that was captured on camera.
The police chief said Singh now faces a felony theft charge in addition to a felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child.
The boy’s mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, also faces a charge of abandoning or endangering a child, and Everman authorities are working with federal agencies to extradite them to the US.
“Although it has been a month and we have not found Noel, rest assured that we have not stopped the fight,” Spencer said. “Not even close.”
Investigators have searched about 500 acres since the case began a month ago, Spencer said, and have found items that are being lab-tested to determine whether they are related to Noel’s disappearance. Spencer did not specify what these items are.
Two weeks ago, authorities dug up a concrete patio at the property where the family lived, and on Tuesday, Spencer said the family spent almost their entire tax refund on pouring the concrete.
Investigators believe human remains were once contained in a shed at the property, which previously stood where the patio is.
Spencer also provided an updated timeline of the events leading up to Noel’s disappearance:
Rodriguez-Singh gave birth to twins in mid-October. Noel was seen for about a week at the family’s residence after the babies were discharged from the hospital.
On Nov 2, Rodriguez-Singh applied for passports for six of her children, not including Noel. Four days later, she researched costs of traveling to India.
Read: Texas missing boy’s stepdad stole $10K before fleeing country with family to India, police say (April 25, 2023)
On March 20, a welfare check was conducted into Noel’s whereabouts. Next day, the family obtained electronic visas
On March 22, Rodriguez-Singh, Singh and the six children flew to India with a layover in Istanbul. But Noel was not a passenger on the flight.
