:dateline:Jaswinder Singh, 24, of Clovis city, was convicted today of being an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States in possession of a firearm, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.
The guilty verdict was returned by a federal jury in Fresno after a three-day trial before United States District Judge Anthony W. Ishii.According to testimony presented at trial and court documents, On August 20, 2012, Singh was working at a liquor store in Fresno when California Alcohol Beverage Control investigators conducted a compliance check. Investigators discovered a .45-caliber handgun to the right of the cash register within a few feet of Singh.
Initially Singh gave a false name to the agents and claimed to be a naturalized U.S. citizen. Upon further questioning, he revealed that he had entered the United States in 2003 using a fraudulent passport.
This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement�s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. Assistant United States Attorney Kimberley A. Sanchez is prosecuting the case.
Singh has been in custody since his arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Ishii on January 21, 2014, at 10:00 a.m. Singh faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
