Jashandeep Singh
With his wife and child looking on, a Punjabi man was sentenced to 28-72 months in prison for groping an 18-year-old woman at Stateline.
Jashandeep Singh, 27, admitted in August to felony sexually motivated coercion involving force in connection with an Aug. 6, 2023, incident at a mixed martial arts fight.
Attorney John Arrascada argued for Singh to receive probation after a psycho-sexual evaluation found that he was at a low risk to reoffend.
Arrascada said Singh was a Sikh in the country legally after being the subject to attacks in India, where he was raised on a family farm. He and his wife arrived in the U.S. in 2020.
He was working at a convenience store in South Lake Tahoe and saw the woman at the fight where he had been drinking.
According to District Judge Tod Young, Singh told Parole and Probation he didn’t do anything wrong, despite his admission to the crime.
Prosecutor Chelsea Mazza said statements from the defendant and his wife essentially erased the survivor in the case.
“I’m not too sure, but my life is ruined,” Mazza quoted Singh saying to an evaluator when asked about the impact of his actions on the young woman. “The victim was left out of the report.”
Singh asked for forgiveness from the survivor and her family and mercy from the court.
In her victim impact statement, the survivor said Singh spotted her at the event and sat down behind her and began touching her.
She said she told him to leave her alone, but that he wouldn’t and put his hand in her crotch before turning her head to his and putting his tongue down her throat.
She said she couldn’t change what happened but hoped that sending Singh to prison would prevent it from happening to someone else.
“Your behavior was grossly inappropriate and criminal,” Young said in sentencing Singh. “Your pain is your fault, the victim’s pain is your fault and your family’s pain is your fault.”
Singh was ordered to pay $3,900 restitution for the psycho-sexual evaluation and was given credit for 416 days time served at the Sept. 24 hearing.
He will have to register as a sex offender, but due to a loophole in the law is not subject to lifetime supervision.
He is also on an immigration hold and could be deported once he completes his prison sentence.
