Illegal Immigrant Accused of Killing California Police Officer Pleads Not Guilty
Richard Moorhead
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An illegal immigrant who became the target of a national manhunt after allegedly killing a California police officer has pled not guilty to charges of murder related to the death of Newman, California officer Ronil Singh.
Gustavo Perez Arriaga has been accused of shooting and killing Officer Singh at a DUI checkpoint in Stanislaus County. While he’s known in the California legal system by that name, his real name has been found to be Paulo Virgen Mendoza. Arriaga could potentially face the death penalty should be be convicted of the charges, but California prosecutors rarely seek death penalty sentences and haven’t specified an intention to pursue such a punishment.
The killing sparked a huge manhunt, during which Arriaga tried to escape the country by fleeing back to Mexico. Other illegal immigrants may have helped Arriaga pay smugglers who would take him across the border, and are currently facing charges for assistance provided to the wanted criminal.
Arriaga had an active warrant for his arrest dating back to 2015, in relation to his failure to serve a jail sentence for his second DUI. Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson has confirmed the Mexican national is an illegal immigrant in the United States. California’s serial refusal to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement may have enabled Arriaga to evade deportation.
The brother of the murdered officer, Reggie Singh, has slammed weak border policies on behalf of the federal government as a potential cause of his brother’s murder.
Tragically, it remains more likely than not that even more Americans will become victims of entirely preventable illegal alien violent crime before the federal government closes the unsecured southern border off from criminal infiltration.
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