TURLOCK, Calif. — Sandeep Singh is walking away as a free man after attorneys say a 14-year-old girl admitted to lying about her own kidnapping, seven months later.
"That was the worst time of my life," Singh said.
This comes after Singh's attorney found surveillance camera footage from a nearby church which proved his innocence and showed he never got out of the car or even slowed down.
"It's a misdemeanor to file a false police report," Blake Wilson, a criminal justice professor at Stanislaus State said. "And that's the terminology that we use when we refer to the kind of thing that this witness might be charged with if the district attorney makes the decision to charge them."
Attorneys tell ABC10 the teen's case has been referred to the probation department for review and possible handling in juvenile court.
ABC10 asked Professor Blake Wilson what that means.
"The probation officer in juvenile cases really works on behalf of the juvenile. Their recommendations are meant to be in the best interest of the juvenile, not in the best case for society," Wilson explained.
Keep in mind, Singh is a Sikh man and he was wearing his traditional turban when he drove past this teenager back in June 2018. Wilson says if this girl were to 18 years old or older, her case would be treated much differently.
"The question is whether or not this might have been motivated by ill will towards them. As an adult engaged in this sort of thing, it could be pursued as a hate crime and it could also be pursued as a variation of that, so to speak," he said.
But Wilson says, because she is still a juvenile, she can only face up to a six-month punishment which, if found guilty, could be anywhere from time in a juvenile hall to community service.
The outcome may never be known, because everything that happens in juvenile court is supposed to remain confidential.
"That's the way the system is designed, is to protect the juveniles in their journey through the criminal justice system," Wilson said.
Singh tells ABC10 he doesn't want to see her go to jail, but he hopes she can get some counseling to realize what she did to his family and to his reputation.
"I don't want her to go through hard times for this, but she should show some remorse," Singh said.
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Sandeep Singh, a Sikh man from Ceres, was falsely accused of kidnapping by a 14-year-old girl. He spent seven months fighting the charge before surveillance footage from a nearby church ultimately proved his innocence.