SCOTTSDALE, AZ — It’s been a wild story from the very beginning.
It’s January 7, 2024, a burglar alarm goes off in the early morning hours at American Fine Art in Old Town Scottsdale.
Scottsdale police tracked the 32-year-old suspect to the roof of a nearby business. They found fine art scattered across the roof.
Police body camera footage captured the dramatic arrest.
The suspect tells police he’s sleeping on the roof, according to a police report. He denies breaking into the gallery or taking any art.
They don’t believe him.
Harpreet Singh is indicted on felony burglary and theft. The art he allegedly tried to take is valued at $250,000, including what police say are works by famous artists Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.
He pleads not guilty.
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Then, while out on bond, prosecutors say he cuts off his electronic ankle monitor and runs away to Las Vegas. He’s re-arrested and sent back to Arizona.
He’s been in a Maricopa County jail ever since; his criminal case working its way through court.
On Monday, a major development: Singh agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony theft and one count of interfering with an electronic monitoring device. He agreed to serve five years in prison. He will be formally sentenced on July 23.
The plea agreement he signed Monday avoids trial, where he faced about a decade in prison if convicted by a jury.
His attorney, Julio Laboy, told ABC15 outside court on Monday that even though the case got a lot of media attention, “Harpreet is still a human being, and he comes to the table with his own shortcomings. He comes to the table with his own worries and nervousness and also his accepting responsibility.”
Singh’s legal troubles don’t end with this criminal case. Just days before the Scottsdale theft, he’s accused of taking two Andy Warhol prints from a gallery in West Hollywood and allegedly trying to resell one of those prints to an art gallery only a mile away.
He’s pleaded not guilty to that theft.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
