ALBUQUERQUE – Lance Wilson, 30, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., pled guilty Oct. 2, in federal court in Albuquerque, to an assault charge.  Wilson’s plea agreement recommends a prison sentence within the range of 60 to 72 months followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.

Wilson was arrested in January 2017, on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a Navajo man by striking him in the head with a pair of wire cutters on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M.

Wilson subsequently was indicted on Jan. 24.  The two-count indictment charged Wilson with assault with intent to commit murder and...

ALBUQUERQUE – Charley Joe, Jr., 68, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., was sentenced Oct. 3, in federal court in Albuquerque, to 78 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his voluntary manslaughter conviction.

Joe was arrested in September 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with murder for killing a Navajo man on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M., on Sept. 15, 2016.  According to the complaint, Joe killed the victim by repeatedly striking him with an ax.

Joe was indicted on Oct. 12, 2016, and was charged with voluntary manslaughter on Sept. 15, 2016, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San...

PHOENIX – Last week, U.S. District Judge Steven Logan sentenced Vestah Tikium to 33 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.  Tikium’s son, Terdell Dawes, was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, while her other son, Terrell Dawes, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.  Tikium and her sons also were ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution.  All three had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  All defendants are members of the Navajo Nation.

Tikium and her sons falsely billed Arizona’s Health Care Cost Containment System

for tens of thousands of medical transports that never occurred...

Gallup Police Department Detectives arrested Montoya Johnson of Crownpoint on a warrant for first degree murder and tampering with evidence Sept. 27.

According to the arrest warrant, Johnson, 42, allegedly stabbed Raymond Peshlakai on the 600 block of south Second Street Sept. 23 – south of the old post office and north of DE Armand Mechanical Shop.

Johnson is being held at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center on a $20,000 cash-only bond.

The assault-turned-homicide scene unfolded as Gallup Community Service Aide Jarad Albert arrived at the scene, shortly before 11 pm, and found Peshlakai unconscious and bleeding from a stab wound to the chest.

The single wound proved...