PORT ANGELES — A 42-year-old Sequim man has been sentenced to 6½ years in prison with the possibility of a lifetime sentence after he pleaded guilty to second-degree rape of a teenager.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Brent Basden sentenced Shamsher Singh on July 22 to spend at least 78 months in prison and, if released, a lifetime in community custody, post-prison supervision.
With no previous criminal record, Singh faced a range of 78-102 months for the felony charge, according to court documents.
Clallam County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin said the prosecution agreed to 78 months in prison in exchange for a guilty plea so that the teenager did not have to “relive the events in trial.”
Devlin said 78 months is Singh’s minimum sentence, and depending on the Indeterminate Sentence Review Board (ISRB), his maximum incarceration could be a life sentence. The lifetime order of community custody also is subject to the ISRB, she said.
Basden signed a lifetime protection order for the teenager. Singh also must register as a sex offender. He was previously deemed indigent and will not have to pay court fees, but a restitution hearing will be held at a future date.
The Sequim Police Department reported that Singh, a delivery driver, had been communicating via text for two months with the teenager, and he picked her up from her job in Sequim on May 30, 2024, to go to his home to prepare food.
The teenager told police Singh purchased alcohol for them, despite her not requesting it.
She drank some wine, ate some food and recalled waking up as Singh was raping her, police report.
Court documents stated the teenager told police she did not expect, consent to, or desire any sexual activity from Singh.
A family member took the teenager to Jefferson Healthcare hospital, where a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination was conducted the following day.
Devlin said in court on July 22 that Singh took advantage of a minor “under the guise of cooking a meal and gave her a lot of alcohol, made her incapable of consent, and raped her.”
A search warrant was first issued in June 2024 for Singh’s phone, and police authored about 20 warrants to track him to Queens in New York City, where U.S. Marshals arrested him.
He was booked in Clallam County Jail on Dec. 4, 2024, and he pleaded guilty on May 13.
Court-appointed defense attorney Douglas Kresl said they agreed to the terms, and while there may have been some differences in underlying facts, “(Singh) fully understands if this were to go to trial, he would be convicted.”
A victim statement was read in court and highlighted how Singh negatively impacted the teenager’s day-to-day life, trust in others and her health. She also called him “truly evil” and that he needs to be punished.
Singh, through a Hindi interpreter, attempted to say why he left the state, but Basden said that didn’t affect the sentencing decision.
“The sentence I will impose is based upon the admission contained in the statement of where he’s pled guilty, and not on evidence that may or may not have come in,” Basden said.
“It’s always disturbing how two lives can be altered in a moment for nothing, and that’s the case here. The victim here deserves justice, and this process allows that to occur.”
Sequim police Det. Sgt. Darrell Nelson said “one of our mottoes here is the ‘relentless pursuit of justice,’ and that ‘relentless pursuit of justice’ allowed us to pursue and restore that victim’s voice.”
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.
