Navajo Woman Pleads Guilty to November 2012 Robbery of Sonic Drive-In in Shiprock

ALBUQUERQUE—Jerrileta Singer, 32, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, New Mexico, pleaded guilty this morning to committing a robbery in Indian Country under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Singer and her co-defendant, Eddie Shirley, 28, a Navajo man from Shiprock, were charged in December 2012 with the armed robbery of a Sonic drive-in restaurant in Shiprock on November 30, 2012. The two were then indicted and charged with robbery and with using and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

During today’s plea hearing, Singer pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and admitted her role in robbing four individuals in the restaurant by use of force, violence, and intimidation and taking money belonging to the restaurant. At sentencing, Singer faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Shirley, Singer’s co-defendant, entered a guilty plea on June 25, 2013, to count two of the indictment and admitted using a firearm to rob the Sonic drive-in in Shiprock on November 30, 2012. Shirley has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for September 23, 2013. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Shirley will be sentenced to not less than seven years in prison.

This case was investigated by Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI and the Shiprock Office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, and it is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Novaline D. Wilson.