Man jailed in South Lake Tahoe last year arrested in SF for alleged child abduction

A man arrested in South Lake Tahoe one year ago has been charged in last week's attempted kidnapping of a toddler who was riding on a MUNI bus in San Francisco with his mother.

On November 17, 2015, 45-year-old Sudesh Singh allegedly grabbed the one-year-old boy as his mother was waiting on a bus for a transfer slip. Singh ran onto the bus and took the child, put him into his arms and ran away, according to officials.

The mother chased after them and freed the screaming toddler from Singh, who was a stranger to both of them, police said.

Singh, from Oakland, was in South Lake Tahoe on November 21, 2014 when he was arrested after two bizarre incidents in the South Y Center parking lot according to Lt. David Stevenson of the South Lake Tahoe Police Department.

In the first incident, which was by Round Table Pizza, a woman was putting her child into a carseat when she turned around to find Singh right behind her with a knife. She quickly closed the car door and got into her side and locked the doors.

As she was calling police, Stevenson said Singh went to the parking lot in front of Raley's and tried to get into the backseat of a woman's car. In this case, the woman thought she saw a knife so was scared as he demanded she drive him home. The unidentified victim, feeling scared, screamed for help. People came to her aid and Singh was acting like he and the victim knew each other and that it was a domestic issue. When SLTPD arrived he tried to tell them it was all a misunderstanding.

He was arrested on brandishing and attempted carjacking charged, and stayed in the El Dorado County Jail until his March 5, 2015 court date where he pleaded guilty and sentenced to one year in county jail. Singh was released on June 5 to the custody of Alameda County where he faced violation of probation charges, Dave Stevenson of the El Dorado County District Attorney's Office told South Tahoe Now. Singh was on probation for a 2013 case where he was convicted on charges of false imprisonment and domestic violence of a Hayward, Calif. woman.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, authorities revealed in court that prior to Singh’s recent arrest, he had been detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for “acting suspiciously,” apparently at the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services office on Sansome Street.

It was not immediately clear why he was let go.

In San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday, Singh was charged and bail was set at $500,000.