Now Reading
Man Sentenced to 21 Months for Hiding Brother Who Shot and Killed Fiji Indian Police Officer

Man Sentenced to 21 Months for Hiding Brother Who Shot and Killed Fiji Indian Police Officer

  • Cpl. Ronil Singh of California’s Central Valley was shot and killed in December 2018, when he pulled over Paulo Virgen Mendoza for a suspected DUI.

Thirty seven-year-old Conrado Virgen Mendoza of Chowchilla was sentenced on March 29 in the Federal Courthouse in Fresno, California, to 21 months in prison for helping his brother, Paulo Virgen Mendoza escape to Mexico, after he shot and killed Corporal Ronil Singh, a 33-year-old Fiji-born officer in California’s Newman Police Department.

According to court documents, Conrado Mendoza, an undocumented immigrant from Colima, Mexico, living in Chowchilla, was convicted of conspiring with others to help his brother escape to Mexico to avoid prosecution for Singh’s murder. Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced that Conrado Mendoza was also convicted of possessing false immigration documents.

Singh, an officer in the tiny town of Newman in California’s Central Valley, was shot and killed when he pulled over Paulo Virgen Mendoza early on Dec. 26, 2018, on suspicion of drunken driving and for having a missing license plate. Singh was shot a few minutes after radioing that he was pulling over a gray pickup truck that had no license plate in Newman, a town of about 10,000 people some 100 miles southeast of San Francisco.

A jury previously found Conrado Virgen Mendoza and another accomplice, Erik Quiroz Razo, 30, of conspiracy to help Paulo Virgen Mendoza flee to avoid prosecution for the murder and possessing false documents. Razo, an undocumented immigrant from Michoacán, Mexico was living in Merced at the time. They were accused of helping to conceal the truck that PauloVirgen Mendoza was driving when he shot and killed Singh and ferrying him from place to place to avoid police. All three were in the United States illegally.

Singh, who immigrated to the U.S. from Fiji to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, joined the police department in 2011 after working for the Merced County Sheriff’s Office.

Paulo Mendoza’s friends and relatives were aware of news coverage, social media, and cellphone alerts that he was wanted for the murder of an officer. However, authorities say that didn’t stop them from concealing Paulo’s truck and disposing of his firearm. Documents say Conrado helped arrange for a smuggler to take him across the border and purchased Paulo a new cell phone to communicate with the smuggler.

Paulo Virgen Mendoza (aka Gustavo Arriaga) pleaded guilty on Nov. 5, 2020, to fatally shooting Singh during the traffic stop. He also admitted to three special circumstances, including committing murder in an attempt to evade arrest, killing a police officer in the performance ofhis duties, and discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle with the intent to inflict death. He took a plea deal that would ensure he does not get the death penalty. Instead, he will never be released from prison and will not get the possibility of parole, according to the deal. As part of the plea agreement, Mendoza agreed to waive his right to appeal.Paulo Mendoza, also an undocumented immigrant from Colima, Mexico, had a house in Newman and drove back there after the murder. Razo was previously sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.

See Also

Singh, who immigrated to the U.S. from Fiji to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, joined the police department in 2011 after working for the Merced County Sheriff’s Office. Singh left behind a wife and son, who is now 2-and-a-half years old, and Sam, his black Labrador Retriever K-9 partner. 

According to an earlier Associated Press report, at Paulo Virgen Mendoza’s trial, Singh’s widow, Anamika Singh-Chand, said, “He loved his American dream of becoming a police officer,” breaking down in sobs on the witness stand. “He wanted his son to also be a police officer.” She recalled at the trial how the family celebrated Christmas togetherbefore he kissed his 5-month-old son on the forehead, then “he told me, ‘I love you and I’ll see you in the morning.’”

That was Singh’s last shift. That night at 2 a.m. a knock on the door from a fellow officer and a nightmarish ride to a hospital surrounded by officers from multiple agencies, later, Anamika Singh learned of her husband’s death. According to the report, the widow told Virgen Mendoza at his trial that he “tore away my dreams … tore my love away from me and left me silently screaming.”

What's Your Reaction?
Excited
0
Happy
0
In Love
0
Not Sure
0
Silly
0
View Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

© 2020 American Kahani LLC. All rights reserved.

The viewpoints expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of American Kahani.
Scroll To Top