The second of two men arrested in Petersburg last summer for scamming an elderly resident has been sentenced to a year in jail, closing the case as a third suspect remains at-large.
Shubham Patel, 25, pleaded guilty to theft charges in October and was sentenced during a final hearing at the Petersburg Courthouse on Dec. 8.
In a plea deal for reduced penalties, Patel agreed to cooperate with the state’s investigation into the elaborate phone scheme that defrauded the victim of over $100,000. Two charges were dropped, and Patel was ultimately convicted on a felony charge of second-degree theft and a misdemeanor of second-degree attempted theft. He was sentenced by Ketchikan Superior Court Judge Katherine Lybrand to 364 days flat.
During sentencing, Lybrand noted that because Patel had no criminal history, the parties were working within a sentencing range of up to two years, and the time under the agreement was right in the middle of that range.
“And some might question whether there should be more or less time attached to a conviction for that type of crime,” Lybrand said. “But that’s not something that the court or the parties have control over. That’s within the Legislature’s discretion.”
The victim in the case, who asked not to be identified, said she agreed with the sentence the prosecution proposed at the final hearing.
In the spring of 2025, the victim was contacted by a scam caller impersonating a government agent. She told investigators that the caller, who used the alias “Sean Watson,” convinced her to wire them $80,000 under the false pretense that her identity was stolen and she was under investigation.
The FBI recently issued an alert warning that Alaskans lost an estimated $1.3 million to government impersonation scams in 2024.
“Watson” contacted the victim again to arrange in-person money pick-ups in Petersburg.
Patel came to Petersburg in May with another suspect, who investigators identified as 28-year-old Utkarsh Mishra. That’s when the victim handed over an additional $50,000. Mishra has been indicted but remains at-large under an arrest warrant.
Patel returned to Petersburg for a second time in June, this time with 23-year-old Harshilkumar Patel, a co-defendant in this case. Both men, who are citizens of India and not related, were arrested on June 9 by local police and the FBI after they met up with the victim and attempted to take an additional $60,000 cash.
Over the course of court proceedings, their respective attorneys explained that both men were in the United States as Master’s students attending different universities, and both were first-time offenders with no criminal history.
Harshilkumar pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted theft in October. The court sentenced him to 170 days flat, including time served, and released him from jail.
Shubham Patel remains in custody at Lemon Creek Correctional Facility in Juneau. He agreed to pay $50,000 in restitution to the victim upon request. Lybrand said he will likely face deportation. His state-appointed public attorney, Anna Ambrose, declined to comment for this story.
Resources for avoiding scams are available online from the FBI.
