Man sentenced to life in prison for Mendocino County double murder, bribery case

An Oakland man who fatally shot a couple in a wooded area outside Fort Bragg in 2013 was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.

Wing Wo Ma, 53, was convicted of murder, firearms and bribery charges, as well as conspiracy to distribute drugs and commit honest services fraud in early November, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.

In a three-week trial, prosecutors argued Ma shot and killed Jim Tat Kong and his wife, Cindy Bao Feng Chen, after he was unable to repay Kong for money he borrowed to fund several failed business ventures, among them a marijuana grow and a real estate scheme in Mendocino County, the office said.

Ma, who was also known as Mark Ma and “Fat Mark,” met the couple for Chen’s birthday on Oct. 17, 2013. He shot them a single time each in the head in a minivan parked in a secluded area near Fort Bragg.

Their bodies and minivan, which was loaded with packages of marijuana, were found later that day by a group of off-road bikers who called 911 when they saw blood in the car.

Three cigarette butts found at the scene of the killing had Ma’s DNA on it, prosecutors said.

Charles R. Breyer, the judge in the case, described Kong and Chen’s murders as a “cold-blooded assassination,” the news release said.

The trial also focused on evidence that showed Ma was bribing Harry Hu, a former Oakland Police Department lieutenant and Alameda County District Attorney investigator.

Those bribes, which began since at least 2008, included airfare and hotel accommodations for Las Vegas trips, female hostesses in Las Vegas and San Francisco, and labor for the remodel of Hu’s home, the news release said.

In exchange, Hu offered Ma protection from several law enforcement investigations.

An investigation into a separate plot to kill Kong, described as a major figure in the Chinese-American criminal underworld, led to the arrest of San Francisco gang leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, who was convicted by a federal jury in 2016.

Chow, who was also sentenced to life in prison and possibly one of Kong’s rivals, was not a prime suspect in the 2013 murder of Kong and his wife.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @nashellytweets.