ALBUQUERQUE – Twaine Willie, 26, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Farmington, N.M., pleaded guilty May 8 in federal court in Albuquerque to an assault charge.  Willie entered the guilty plea under a plea agreement that recommends that he be sentenced to a prison term within the range of 24 to 30 months followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.

Willie was arrested on Jan. 18 on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a Jicarilla Apache man with a baseball bat on Jan. 3 on the Jicarilla Apache Nation in Rio Arriba County, N.M.  According to the complaint, the victim sustained a compound fracture of his lower right leg as the...

Beginning in 2015, the Internet Crime Complaint Center forwarded multiple complaints to the FBI’s Houston Field Office regarding fraudulent offers of investment opportunities by perpetrators who impersonated U.S. bank officials and financial consultants over the internet and telephone. Victims in various countries, including the U.S., were deceived into believing they would receive millions of dollars from joint ventures with certain U.S. banks if they paid up-front fees—ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars—to participate. According to court documents, victims lost more than $7 million collectively in this scam.

The complaints submitted by victims to...

CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. — A Fence Lake woman found dead during the early morning hours of May 6 has been identified as Sharon Rankin.

Rankin’s grandson, Nikolas Sayers, 15, has been booked into Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center on one open count of murder, according to a news release issued by New Mexico State Police.

State Police responded to the call about a reported homicide at 1:45 am Sunday, and said it’s an “active homicide” investigation being spearheaded by the department’s Investigation Bureau.

A wild pursuit

5/5, U. S. Highway 491

A McKinley County deputy engaged in a pursuit of a suspect who may have been involved in a domestic dispute in his car, traveling at speeds of close to 120 mph on U. S. Highway 491.

MCSO Dep. Frank Villa said the incident began about 4:45 pm. Villa was at the Gallup Flea Market on another matter when he said he saw a woman trying to get out of a vehicle and screaming.

Before she could get out, the car left at a high rate of speed northbound on State Highway 608. Villa went in pursuit as the vehicle got onto U.S. Highway 491, going at speeds of up to 100 mph as he wove in and out of traffic, going onto the shoulder to get around cars and...