INDIAN WOMAN SENTENCED FOR BRIBERY AND ALIEN SMUGGLING

The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that Jatinder Singh, aka “Vina,” aka Jatinder Soorah, 52, an Indian and Canadian citizen living in Montreal, Quebec, was sentenced on October 15, 2009, in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont, to serve 33-months imprisonment and two-years supervised release following her guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii), and one count of bribery of a public official, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 201(b)(1)(A), 2. Chief United States District Judge William K. Sessions III also ordered Singh to pay a $200 special assessment. According to court documents, Singh participated in a conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States from Canada. Specifically, Singh, working with other conspiracy members, arranged for a group of six aliens to be guided into the United States on November 23, 2006. These aliens and their guide were arrested at the Border Motel in Derby, Vermont, by agents from the United States Border Patrol. As to the bribery conviction, Singh bribed a person whom she thought was a corrupt immigration official to facilitate the acquisition of United States work permits. The immigration official was, in reality, a Special Agent with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement working in an undercover capacity. The defendant received an increase in her sentence based on Judge Sessions’ finding that she committed perjury when she testified at her first sentencing hearing that she had been coerced by a third party into participating in the bribery scheme. Because of this false testimony, Judge Sessions increased her sentence based on obstruction of justice and refused to reduce her sentence based on acceptance of responsibility, despite her guilty pleas to the charges. United States Attorney Tristram J. Coffin commended the efforts of Special Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the United States Border Patrol. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Barbara Masterson. The defendant was represented today by Michael Straub.