An Oshkosh man, found guilty of hiding a corpse, appeared in court Wednesday to learn his fate.
Angel Arriaga had been using heroin with his friend Trisha Baniel last July at his apartment in Oshkosh, according to prosecutors.
When Baniel didn’t wake up, Arriaga didn’t call police.
Court documents say Arriaga didn’t report her death for three days. A confidential informant told Oshkosh Police they had seen Baniel’s body in Arriaga’s apartment.
Now, he’ll spend about four more years in prison, after spending the last year in jail. He’ll also be on extended supervision for five years after that. While sentencing Arriaga, Judge Daniel Bissett took issue with him calling Baniel a friend.
“In this case, they hide their friend’s corpse. They don’t report it to the authorities...and we call them friends in court. I don’t think that’s the definition of friendship,” the judge said.
Arriaga apologized to the court and says his year in jail has forced him to realize the seriousness of his addiction.
Baniel’s family says the three days she was missing was the longest of their lives.
