The former manager of a Mountain Pine convenience store who was staying in the country through the DACA program pleaded guilty to felony charges Monday stemming from a 2016 home invasion and illegal gambling operation at his store.
Sunny Ghotra Singh, 25, appeared in Garland County Circuit Court with his attorney, Q. Byrum Hurst, and pleaded guilty to residential burglary and keeping a gambling house and was sentenced to five years in prison on each count, to run concurrently, while additional charges of aggravated robbery and possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, with purpose to deliver were withdrawn.
Garland County Deputy Prosecutor Trent Daniels said Monday Singh is currently in federal custody with federal charges pending in connection with violations of his status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and involving his possession of firearms.
The federal charges against Singh "are an active and ongoing case," Daniels said, noting, "We wanted to clear up the state charges to free them up to pursue the federal counts." He said Singh is facing time in federal prison and then will be deported back to his native India.
Prosecuting Attorney Michelle Lawrence also noted the victims in the home invasion were notified of the plea deal and had agreed to the sentence in the case.
It was Singh's DACA status that caught the attention of investigators with Homeland Security and the 18th Judicial District East Drug Task Force after Singh reportedly shot a burglar allegedly trying to take money from the register at the Mountain Pine Corner Store, 2702 Mountain Pine Road, on Dec. 4, 2016, Daniels said.
The burglary suspect, identified as Cody Allen Willis, 23, of Jessieville, was shot in the face with a shotgun by Singh after he reportedly fired at Singh with a handgun. Singh told The Sentinel-Record Willis was a former employee of the store. Willis was charged with aggravated robbery and commercial burglary, but the charges were later withdrawn for further investigation.
Singh was not charged in connection with the shooting, but under the DACA program he is not allowed to possess a firearm. Daniels said DTF investigators had also developed information the shooting "was over narcotics. Basically a drug deal gone bad. That got their attention."
DTF investigators made a controlled purchase of narcotics from Singh at the store which allowed them to obtain a search warrant for the premises, he said.
In the meantime, Garland County sheriff's investigators developed information Singh was involved in a home invasion robbery on Dec. 4, 2016, he said, noting the victims in the incident "came forward" after hearing about Singh's involvement in the shooting.
"(Singh) was apparently a debt collector of sorts and forced his way into the home with an accomplice," Daniels said.
The DTF executed the search warrant at the store on Jan. 31, 2017, assisted by sheriff's investigators, Homeland Security, Arkansas State Police, Hot Springs police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. They also arrested Singh, who was found inside, on the arrest warrants from the home invasion.
According to the affidavit on the drug and gambling charges, investigators found a total of 163.9 grams of marijuana, four sets of digital scales, 33 glass smoking devices, three bong pipes and four firearms, including three .45-caliber handguns and a 12-gauge shotgun. The smoking devices were reportedly found in an air vent in the wall.
Also recovered were $26,389.40 in cash, 15 surveillance cameras, located inside and outside of the store, and a DVR system. Three working gambling machines were found on the premises and investigators observed customers playing the machines and cashing out tickets with money given to them by Singh minutes before the warrant was executed.
After his arrest, Singh admitted the marijuana, guns and smoking devices found in the store belonged to him and that he had hidden the smoking devices in the vent.
According to the affidavit on the home invasion, on Dec. 4, around 8 p.m., a local woman said she and her husband were at their residence on Ninth Street in Mountain Pine when they heard a knock at the door. The husband looked out the window and saw a white male standing outside.
At that point, two other males, one black and one described as Indian, kicked in the front door and entered the house. The black male, armed with a pistol, began hitting the woman in the head and arm, she said. The Indian male, whom both victims recognized as Singh, was armed with a shotgun and began hitting her husband and demanding "the money they owed him."
When they told the suspects they had no money, Singh reportedly demanded pills. The couple stated they had no pills, so Singh told the black male to take a television. They stated the white male stood near the door and said nothing during the incident.
Both victims told investigators they knew Singh as the owner of the Mountain Pine Corner Store and the husband noted he had met and spoken with Singh more than 50 times in the past, the affidavit states.
Local on 09/19/2017