Washington: The Indian-origin stepfather of a six-year-old boy, who is feared dead, stole $10,000 from a convenience store company in Texas where he worked, before fleeing to India with his wife and six other children, police said.
The FBI and other US federal agencies are seeking to extradite and arrest Arshdeep Singh and his wife Cindy Rodriguez-Singh for abandoning/endangering their child with special needs, Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer said this week.
Arshdeep now also faces a felony theft charge for fraudulently altering cash deposit records to steal cash, and depositing $8,000 into his account hours before leaving the country, Spencer said.
Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez was one of the 10 children born to Cindy Rodriguez-Singh.
Three siblings lived with their grandparents, while Noel and the others lived with their mother in a shed in Everman, a suburb of Fort Worth.
Spencer said that Arshdeep Singh, Cindy, and six other children got on a plane and travelled to India just before a welfare check conducted on March 20 at the family's home found Noel missing.
At the time Cindy told police that Noel was in Mexico with his biological father, which investigators later found out to be false.
"We want these fugitives arrested and extradited to the US so that we can seek answers for the disappearance of Noel," Spencer had said in a previous news conference.
Police investigations found that Cindy neglected and abused Noel, which included depriving that child with food and water.
She had reportedly told relatives that the child was "evil" or "possessed".
According to multiple media reports, Noel was born prematurely and suffered from several physical disabilities and developmental disorders.
At the time the couple flew to India, there were reportedly no warrants against them, thus helping them board the flight.
Police said that the body of the child is yet to be found, adding that extensive search operations involving sniffer dogs have already begun. IANS