On April 5, 2025, the Shelby Township Police Department took a fraud report of $50,000 cash involving an elderly Shelby Township couple.  The couple was contacted by email from the suspect stating they had pending fraudulent charges on their credit card for purchasing child pornography.  The couple was advised to withdraw $50,000 from their bank account in order to prevent the charges from being successful.  The suspect advised the couple to place the cash in a box and an agent from the Treasury Department would come to their house to pick up the cash.  The suspect also instructed the couple not to tell anyone.  Two days later, the suspect rented a car and drove from his residence in Toledo, Ohio, to the victim’s residence in Shelby Township, at which point the victims gave the suspect a box containing $50,000 cash as they were instructed to do so by the suspect.

The Shelby Township Police Department made this case a priority immediately after learning about the elderly victims being scammed.  Detective Thomas Verdura was assigned this case to investigate.  After drafting several search warrants and utilizing our FLOCK camera system, Detective Verdura was able to identify the suspect in this case as Vedantkumar Bhupenbhai Patel, a 25-year-old male who resides in Toledo, Ohio.  Patel is not a U.S. resident and is here on a student visa.  Detective Verdura’s investigation also revealed that the suspect had likely already shipped the stolen $50,000 back to his hometown of India, while attempting to scam these victims, along with others, out of thousands of more dollars.  Patel is also under federal investigation in at least two other scams of elderly residents, and ICE has placed a detainer on Patel.

Detective Verdura’s case was presented to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office, and they authorized the following charges on Patel:

Count 1: False Pretenses - $50,000 or more but less than $100,000

Count 2: Larceny - $20,000 or more

On April 30, 2025, Patel was taken into custody in Toledo, Ohio and later extradited to Michigan.  Patel was arraigned on May 5, 2025, in 41-A District Court by Magistrate James VerPloeg, where bond was set at $100,000 cash surety.

“The investigative work by Detective Thomas Verdura was extraordinary.  He was determined and persistent throughout, always looking for the next clue or fact.  His skill in navigating the FLOCK camera system was remarkable and directly led to the arrest of Patel.  He wrote and served several search warrants, I.E., Google, Enterprise Rental (multiple), T-Mobile, and Visa.  The information obtained in these warrants led to one suspect, Patel” said Shelby Township Police Chief Robert Shelide.  “People that prey on the elderly are the most despicable type of criminals that I have dealt with in my 38+ years of law enforcement experience, and our department will use every available resource to identify and arrest these types of evil criminals.”