Navajo Vice-President Jonathan Nez, who came out on top of all the pre-election polls, had no problem coming in first in the Navajo Nation primary for tribal president Aug. 28.

He won more chapters than all of the other 17 candidates combined, getting 14,105 votes, according to the unofficial totals.

Coming in second was former Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., who received 6,947 votes, but the story there was that throughout most of the night, he was fighting to keep that second place as Tom Chee, the tribal council delegate from Shiprock, who challenged him throughout night, at times came within 150 votes.

Chee came in third place with 6,411 votes.

The tribe’s current...

Just after 3 pm on Aug. 28, Metro Dispatch received a report about a deceased person located north of the BNSF tracks, adjacent to Elizabeth Street and East Highway 66.

Gallup Police Department officers and detectives responded to the location and conducted an investigation to determine the cause of death.

Identification was difficult due to the state of the body, but positive identification was made Aug. 29, and the next of kin was notified.

The deceased was identified as Thomas Heredia, 34.

On Aug. 20, GPD Officer Douglas Hoffman took a Missing Persons report on Heredia.

Hoffman attempted to, but did not, locate him, and entered Heredia as a Missing Persons into the National...

ALBUQUERQUE – Attorney General Hector Balderas secured a second felony conviction against Mark Webb, an Albuquerque man who secretly recorded graphic videos of an underage female in the bathroom Aug. 27.

Balderas previously convicted the same man of voyeurism at trial in 2016, yet the issue of whether Balderas could also go forward on additional charges of manufacturing child pornography in that case remained on appeal.

After the Court of Appeals agreed with Balderas’ position on appeal, Webb pleaded guilty to an additional count of second degree sexual exploitation of children by manufacture.

“This young survivor can now start to heal,” Balderas said. “The offender in this...

Store owner sold Filipino-made jewelry claiming it was Native-American-made

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera of the District of New Mexico sentenced Nael Ali, 54, of Albuquerque, for violating the Indian Arts and Craft Act by fraudulently selling counterfeit Native American jewelry as Indian-Made Aug. 28.

Judge Herrera sentenced Ali, who previously pled guilty to two felony IACA charges, to six months of imprisonment followed by a year of supervised release. Ali was also ordered to pay $9,048.78 in restitution.

The IACA prohibits the offer or display for sale, or the sale of any good in a manner that falsely suggests that it is Native-produced, an Native...