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The first suspect had been arrested last week in what was at the time reported to be an armed robbery of the Grandview AM/PM Arco gas station during the early morning hours of April 9th. Based on information gathered by detectives in the days following, it was determined the robbery had been staged and the store clerk, Baldev Gill, was not a victim but another suspect.
Ferndale Police Lieutenant Matt Huffman said today, “We had left a message on his [Gill’s] phone advising that he turn himself in. Last night he reached out to our detectives and advised that he was at the Greyhound bus station in Bellingham. One of our officers and a couple of officers from Bellingham PD responded and took him into custody.”
According to jail records, Gill, age 28, remains in custody charged with failure to appear on a charge of theft in the first degree.
In the days following the staged robbery, law enforcement pieced together a series of events occurring before and after the theft according to a probable cause statement filed in Whatcom Superior Court.
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Click for more informationThe AM/PM store surveillance video showed Gill helping to place the business safe onto a metal type cart and push it outside where it was placed into the waiting silver SUV. The investigation led officers to view a Bellingham Home Depot surveillance video from the day before which showed a male purchasing gloves and a metal cart and leaving in a silver colored SUV.
The day after the staged robbery Lynden Police responded to the Windmill Inn hotel. The manager provided surveillance video showing two males unloading and loading a large box. Sawing and drilling sounds had been heard coming from one of the hotel rooms.
When Lynden Police contacted Shanjeet Brar in the hotel room, he denied having participated in the robbery and denied the large box was a safe. After viewing the hotel surveillance video, Brar admitted to the robbery having been staged.
Lynden Police contacted a Ferndale Police detective who noted certain pieces of Brar’s clothing matched the person seen in both the Home Depot and AM/PM store surveillance videos.
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Click for more informationAfter further questioning, Brar told detectives the safe had been opened and dumped in the Nooksack River near the Guide Meridian. It was later recovered by authorities.
A search of the SUV, a rental car, revealed money stashed in various locations inside the vehicle.