FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. –Judge Stephen M. McNamee has sentenced Gary Cody Francis, 55, of Chinle, Ariz., to 156 months in federal prison, followed by lifetime supervised release. Francis had previously pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact with a minor.

On Sept. 8, 2016, Francis, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, knowingly engaged in sexual contact with the minor victim, who is also an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Navajo Division of Public Safety Criminal Investigations. The prosecution was handled by Christina Covault, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of...

WINDOW ROCK – On Jan. 22, the 23rd Navajo Nation Council unanimously accepted Speaker LoRenzo Bates’ (Nenahnezad, Newcomb, San Juan, Tiis Tsoh Sikaad, Tse’Daa’Kaan, Upper Fruitland) report for the 2018 Winter Council Session with a vote of 17-0.

A large portion of Speaker’s report focused on the Navajo Nation’s legislative priorities for the states of Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona as legislators from each state continue with their annual legislative sessions.

“Through the Council’s State Task Force we have been able to meet with various state legislators and introduced legislation to outline the Nation’s priorities for each state’s legislative session. In the...

Statistics released Jan. 23 in the FBI’s Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report revealed overall declines in the number of property crimes and violent crimes reported for the first half of 2017 when compared with figures for the first half of 2016.

The report is based on information from 13,033 law enforcement agencies that submitted three to six months of comparable data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program for the first six months of 2016 and 2017.

VIOLENT CRIME

Three of the offenses in the violent crime category — rape (revised definition), robbery, and aggravated assault — showed decreases when data from the first six months of 2017 were compared with...

WINDOW ROCK – On the opening day of the 2018 Winter Council Session, the 23rd Navajo Nation Council recognized and congratulated Nicco Montano, a member of the Navajo Nation from the community of Lukachukai, who recently won the Ultimate Fighting Championship inaugural Women’s Flyweight Title.

The UFC Champion was joined by family members on the Council Chamber floor as Council Delegate Tom Chee (Shiprock) and Speaker LoRenzo Bates (Nenahnezad, Newcomb, San Juan, Tiis Tsoh Sikaad, Tse’Daa’Kaan, Upper Fruitland), presented her with an honorary plaque and thanked her serving as a positive role model for all Navajo people, particularly Navajo youth.

Chee thanked Montano for being...