Navajo Woman Sentenced to Eighteen Months for Role in Armed Robbery on the Navajo Indian Reservation

ALBUQUERQUE – Jerrileta Singer, 33, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Farmington, N.M., was sentenced this morning to 18 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release for her robbery conviction.   Singer also was ordered to pay $400 in restitution to the victim of her crime.

Singer and her co-defendant Eddie Shirley, 28, a Navajo man who resides in Shiprock, N.M., were charged in Dec. 2012, in a criminal complaint with robbing the Sonic Drive-In Restaurant in Shiprock at gunpoint on Nov. 30, 2012.  The two were later indicted and charged with robbery, and with using and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Singer pled guilty to the robbery charge of the indictment on July 25, 2013.  In entering her guilty plea, Singer admitted robbing four individuals who were in the restaurant by use of force, violence and intimidation and taking money belonging to the restaurant. 

Shirley pled guilty to the firearms charge of the indictment on June 25, 2013, and admitted brandishing a firearm during the armed robbery of the restaurant.  On Sept. 30, 2013, Shirley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release.

This case was investigated by Farmington office of the FBI and the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Novaline D. Wilson.