A member of the Navajo Nation has been sentenced to eight years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor.

Larry Nathaniel, 65, of Farmington, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was sentenced on Aug. 25 in federal court to eight years and six months in prison for abusive sexual contact of a minor in Indian Country. Nathaniel pleaded guilty on Feb. 2.

According to the indictment and other court records, Nathaniel committed the offense in the family home of the victim in San Juan County on the Navajo Nation on Feb. 24, 2019. Nathaniel held down the victim by the arm and touched her genitalia. At the time of the abuse, the victim was ten years old.

Upon his release...

A multi-agency effort led to the arrest of a man who had broken his parole by unlawfully owning a firearm.

On August 26, around 2:00 p.m., the New Mexico State Police, as part of the metro proactive crime suppression and traffic enforcement operation arrested Christopher Perez, 24, of Albuquerque.

Perez, who had outstanding federal warrants for probation violation on the charge of unlawful possession of a firearm was known through investigation to be inside a residence at 312 Aztec Rd NW in Albuquerque.  Agents from the NMSP Auto Theft Unit, Violent Crimes Task Force Unit, Crime Suppression Unit, Special Investigations Unit, and Fugitive Apprehension Unit along with NMSP Tactical...

Only a few short weeks after the break-in and destruction at the Big Brothers Big Sisters Mountain Region office in Gallup, the non-profit’s Executive Director Sarah Piano had her car broken into.

Piano said she was in her office on Aug. 13 when her car was vandalized.

Piano said a man showed up at her office window three times that day. She told him to leave and he told her the windows in her car were broken.

She was unable to call 911 at the time, because the phones were down.

In a conversation with the Sun, Piano said she believed the person at her window was responsible for the damage, and possibly the damage inside the office over the weekend of July 24, as well.

She knew...

UNKNOWN ASSAILANTS

Thoreau, Aug. 1

A man who complained he was assaulted by a man selling sno-cones, may have been mistaken.

McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerald Watchman was dispatched to the Speedway station at 92 Hwy. 371 in reference to a male who was assaulted.

Watchman met the apparent victim, Jefferson Jim, 64, of Thoreau who told him a man parked across the highway selling sno-cones and tamales had attacked him and pushed him down. Jim did have a mark on his cheek that lined up with an injury, and he stated no one was willing to help when he walked into the store to call law enforcement.

Watchman spoke with the man Jim said attacked him, Dennis James Jr., 39, of...