Charges include repeated assault, harassment
A man from Tohatchi is facing 37 months in prison after he allegedly tried to strangle his girlfriend.
According to court records, on Aug. 13, 2022, Anthony Joe, 38, assaulted the victim as she was trying to leave his residence. Joe, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, punched the woman with a closed fist in the back of her head and in her side while she was holding their child, then kicked her in the back and pulled her away from the door by her hair. The victim eventually escaped from the residence without her child and ran to a nearby gas station where she called law enforcement.
When the victim was later interviewed by the FBI regarding the incident, she reported that Joe used his arm to choke her from behind as she tried to leave their bedroom and knocked her to the floor. As she tried to get away, Joe used his hands to choke her twice, causing her to see black and go limp both times. The victim reported needing time after being choked to catch her breath. She received medical treatment for her injuries and was diagnosed with contusion and soft tissue injury for the bruising to her neck, back, and face.
Over the next month, Joe harassed the victim, her family, and her co-workers. On Sept. 6, 2022, Joe set fireworks off in front of the victim’s home, then fled from officers when they approached him. On Sept. 12, 2022, Joe vandalized the victim’s car and threw rocks at the residence where she was staying with her relative, and through the window of a residence where she previously lived. Joe also vandalized the victim’s workplace by spray-painting the victim’s name and “you meth w****” on the building. On Sept. 13, 2022, the FBI found incendiary devices known as “Molotov Cocktails” around the trailer of a man Joe believed the victim was in a relationship with.
Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced that Anthony Joe was sentenced to 37 months in prison on Jan. 31. Joe pled guilty to assault of a spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner by strangling last year on Feb. 22.
Upon his release from prison, Joe will be subject to three years of supervised release.
The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Nation Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Brittany DuChaussee is prosecuting the case.
Staff Reports
