Mexican National Sentenced For Harboring Brother Who Murdered NorCal Police Officer Ronil Singh

FRESNO (CBS SF) -- A man was sentenced to prison Monday for helping his brother try to flee to Mexico after the brother murdered Newman, Stanislaus County Police Corporal Ronil Singh in December 2018.

Conrado Virgen Mendoza, 37, a Mexican national living in Chowchilla, was sentenced to 21 months in prison following his September 2019 conviction. He was found guilty of conspiring with others to hide his brother Paulo Virgen Mendoza with relatives in the Central Valley, hide the truck used during the officer's killing, and lying to investigators about his brother's whereabouts.

A second man, 30-year-old undocumented immigrant Erik Quiroz Razo living in Merced was also convicted of the charges and previously sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.

Conrado Virgen Mendoza was also convicted of possessing false immigration documents, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert for the Eastern District of California.

Paulo Virgen Mendoza, also known as Gustavo Perez Arriaga, pleaded guilty last November to murdering Corporal Singh and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He was found at a relative's home in Kern County after an intensive three-day manhunt.

The 33-year-old Singh, an immigrant from Fiji, h was shot to death in the early hours of Dec. 26, 2018 after pulling over a suspected drunk driver. He left behind a wife and young son, and his killing rekindled a debate over California's sanctuary law that limits cooperation by local authorities with federal immigration authorities.

Former President Donald Trump used Singh's killing to call for tougher border security amid a fight with congressional Democrats over funding for Trump's border wall proposal.