Conrado Virgen Mendoza Sentenced For Hiding Brother Who Shot And Killed Cpl. Ronil Singh

NEWMAN (CBS13/AP) - A man who tried to help his brother escape to Mexico after he shot and killed a police officer has been sentenced to nearly two years in federal prison.

Conrado Virgen Mendoza, 37, and several others were accused of helping Paulo Virgen Mendoza try to escape after the shooting. Conrado Virgen Mendoza was sentenced Tuesday to a 21-month term.

Cpl. Ronil 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.

A jury previously found Conrado Virgen Mendoza and another accomplice, Erik Quiroz Razo, 30, guilty of conspiring to help Paulo Virgen Mendoza flee to avoid prosecution for Singh's murder and possessing false documents. They were accused of helping to conceal the truck that Paulo Virgen 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.

Paulo Virgen Mendoza pleaded guilty in November to fatally shooting the 33-year-old Singh during the traffic stop. Razo was previously sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.

Prosecutors said Mendoza shot Singh after being pulled over in the area of Merced Street and Eucalyptus Avenue on suspicion of a DUI just before 1 a.m. on Dec. 26, 2018. Mendoza allegedly arraigned to be smuggled across the border into Mexico, but he was arrested several days after the shooting.

Singh, who immigrated to the U.S. from Fiji to fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, left behind a wife and a 5-month-old son.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)