Staff Reports

ALBUQUERQUE – Dalchimsky Begay, 26, an enrolled member of the Zuni Pueblo who resides in Rio Rancho, pled guilty Oct. 4 in federal court in Albuquerque to a sexual abuse of a minor charge.

Begay was arrested in June 2016, on an indictment charging him with sexually abusing a minor who was between 12 and 16 years of age.

According to the indictment, Begay committed the crime on Feb. 14, 2015, on the Navajo Nation in San Juan County.

During the Oct. 4 proceedings, Begay pled guilty to the indictment and admitted engaging in a sexual act with the victim who was between 12 and 16 years of age and was four years younger than Begay.

At sentencing, Begay faces a statutory maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. He will also be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Begay was remanded into custody pending his sentencing. The hearing has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Gallup office of the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Novaline D. Wilson.

Violent crime increased as property crime decreased

On Sept. 26, the FBI released its annual compilation of crimes reported to its Uniform Crime Reporting Program by law enforcement agencies from around the nation. Crime in the United States, 2015 reveals a 3.9 percent increase in the estimated number of violent crimes and a 2.6 percent decrease in the estimated number of property crimes last year when compared to 2014 data.

According to the report, there were an estimated 1,197,704 violent crimes committed around the nation. While that was an increase from 2014 figures, the 2015 violent crime total was 0.7 percent lower than the 2011 level and 16.5 percent below the 2006 level.

Among some of the other statistics contained in Crime in the United States, 2015:

The estimated number of murders in the nation was 15,696.

During the year, there were an estimated 90,185 rapes. (This figure currently reflects UCR’s legacy definition. Learn more about the revised rape definition.)

There were an estimated 327,374 robberies nationwide, which accounted for an estimated $390 million in losses (average dollar value of stolen property per reported robbery was $1,190).

Firearms were used in 71.5 percent of the nation’s murders, 40.8 percent of robberies, and 24.2 percent of aggravated assaults.

Property crimes resulted in losses estimated at $14.3 billion. The total value of reported stolen property (i.e., currency, jewelry, motor vehicles, electronics, firearms) was $12,420,364,454.

In addition to national crime data, the publication also contains agency-level data, regional data, state totals, data from cities and counties grouped by populations, and statistics from certain metropolitan areas.

Crime in the United States, 2015 features several smaller reports:

Federal Crime Data, the second report from UCR looking at crime reporting from federal agencies, includes 2015 data from FBI and ATF cases as well as traditional offense information from other federal agencies.

Human Trafficking, the third report from UCR’s Human Trafficking data collection, includes general content about human trafficking as well as data provided by agencies that reported human trafficking offenses in 2015.

Cargo Theft, the third report from UCR’s Cargo Theft data collection, contains general information about cargo theft and data provided by agencies that reported cargo theft violations during 2015.

Also included in Crime in the United States, 2015 is a message from FBI Director James Comey on the bureau’s efforts to improve the collection, analysis, and uses of crime statistics and data about law enforcement’s use of force, primarily through its ongoing shift to the more detailed National Incident-Based Reporting System and a use-of-force database.

Both, he said, will “give us a more complete, richer picture of crime in our communities, and a national and detailed picture of the ways we in law enforcement are using force.”

According to Comey, who cited the need for more transparency and accountability in law enforcement, “Information that is accurate, reliable, complete, and timely will help all of us learn where we have problems and how to get better.”

Local stats:

According to neighborhoodscout.com, a search engine that collects and shares statistics, New Mexico, which has a population of over 2 million, sees 12,459 violent crimes and 73,877 property crimes annually.

Gallup, the site says, is “safer than 0% of the cities in the U.S.” The city of Gallup sees 490 violent crimes and 2,365 property crimes annually; that’s 127.06 crimes per year, per 1,000 residents. On average, Gallup sees 151 crimes per square mile, compared to New Mexico as a whole, which sees 24. The national median is 32.8.

According to 2013 FBI crime data, that year, New Mexico had the second-highest violent crime rate in the country. The 2013 violent crime rate for the state was 597 per 100,000 residents, according to 24/7 Wall St., which compiled FBI data. With 2,086 per 100,000, Gallup had the highest violent crime rate in the state.

Victim reportedly stabbed 19 times

By Bernie Dotson

Sun Correspondent

A Gamerco man remained in jail at the McKinley County Adult Detention Center Sept. 23 on a $15,000 cash-only bond after being charged with robbery, aggravated battery, and tampering with evidence, according to an arrest warrant.

Troy Pinto, 43, is the primary suspect in the Sept. 17 stabbing of Elbert Smith at a location behind Home Depot at 530 Kachina St. Smith told Gallup police detectives that he’d been drinking at the Home Depot location with two males and a female. Each was Native American, according to the warrant.

Smith said the two males jumped him and stole his wallet, cell phone, clothes and $14 in cash.

The arrest warrant indicates that Smith suffered multiple facial bruises and swelling.

“Smith stated that the group might have set him up,” the warrant states.

Smith told law enforcement authorities that he was threatened with a knife and that one of the males demanded his debit card and PIN number.

Smith was taken to Gallup Indian Medical Center due to the seriousness of the injuries, the warrant states. Smith was able to get the stolen belongings back as Gallup officers ultimately apprehended the three.

Pinto was ultimately arrested by Gallup police. His wife was taken to Gallup Detox because she was drunk, the arrest warrant states. The other male was not arrested.

Pinto told detectives that he was actually trying to protect Smith during the fight. He said he bent over Smith at one instance, telling investigators that he may have stabbed Smith, but he “does not know how many times.” Pinto said he believed that he and Smith were related by clan.

According to Smith, Pinto said to him at one point, “Give me your PIN number or I’ll f****** kill you.”

Pinto stated in the arrest warrant papers that he didn’t remember taking Smith’s personal belongings, but he remembers giving Dick $4 of Smith’s money. Pinto's wife was later released after getting out of Gallup Detox.

‘If we can make ‘em laugh or cry, we can make them think’

Along with film-fest staples like screenings and Q&A sessions hosted by filmmakers, the Gallup Film Festival rolled out the proverbial red carpet for celebrities and live-music acts alike – and afforded an opportunity for local folks to hobnob with entertainment’s finest.

One of the festival’s featured music acts included a Sept. 18 evening performance by Gary Farmer and his troublemakers. Farmer’s band, Gary Farmer and the Troublemakers, has released two CDs, Love Songs and Other Issues, 2007, and Lovesick Blues, 2009.

Before the show, the Sun sat down with Farmer and discussed music, acting, Native filmmaking, and beyond.

Sun: Welcome back to Gallup, Gary, how long have you been coming to Gallup to perform?

Farmer: Well, at least a dozen [years], I guess. I love playing music, people ask me to play music. You know, I try to oblige … It keeps me young. [Laughs] I’m getting old.

Sun: How long has your band been together and how has it been going?

Farmer: The band has been performing since 2005 — about 11 years now. I’ve got five albums….

Today, we put on a very eclectic show. I try to get artists that have content as well as material.... so we’re all storytellers. It’s very diverse, interesting and eclectic, so it’s a lot of fun. That’s why I use different artists for different shows; we change it up depending on the situation.

Sun: Are you considered a blues band?

Farmer: You can call us whatever you want — rock n roll, reggae, all kinds of things — but yeah, it’s blues-based.

Sun: Do you guys tour extensively?

Farmer: We usually tour in the off-season, like the fall or spring, and sit by the phone during the summer, I guess. We’ll probably do like the West Coast this year, but we do get around.

Sun: When you’re not touring, do you still act?

Farmer: Yeah, I do, but not as much as I use to do, because I’m not as popular as I once was, I guess. I never do any of the historical mellow dramas they do; I’m not a starvation Indian, I guess — never have been. So I guess [I do] what comes to me, and that is contemporary [film].

Sun: How do you feel about Native American films?

Farmer: You want as much Native American content as possible. I always thought the best thing to do [for] anyone [with] any money was to make a Native American pilot and sell it to the networks — that would be the strongest thing [for] our Native young ones to do. We need a lot of Native American producers. Like if I had any time or money, I would do a piece on the Navajo [about] the degradation to what is happening to them.

Sun: Would you view those types of films as entertainment?

Farmer: It’s not entertainment as much as it’s education. I mean, television doesn’t have to be so fully entertainment. It should have a beginning, middle, and end, and we should have a sense of something we learned from the experience … We need our voice out there more than ever, and I always believe that if we are the protectors of Mother Earth, let’s get busy, man.

Sun: How did you get started in acting?

Farmer: I took an interest in photography in high school. From there, I went to cinematic interest and ended up in Toronto in college. Then I got into filmmaking, where I ended up in the theater. In the theater, I saw the power of story and how we can make people laugh — if we can make ‘em laugh or cry, we can make them think.

I thought, now there’s a way to make a change. Because I grew up in a fairly dysfunctional Native American community, I knew we needed change. So when I discovered the theater, that was when I realized this was how you do it: You just gotta make people think to make the world a better place — that’s why I became an actor.

Sun: I heard that you also teach classes on acting ...

Farmer: I [pull students] together and pull on their subconscious and help shape the story, and then I help guide them through.

Sun: Do you see other methods in telling a story?

Farmer: We gotta continue doing the work, we’re quite a few years behind in doing it, you know. We need some new stuff — you guys are gonna have to do it: the community, the people. [Figure out] what changes they want, and find a creative way of telling it and how it will help. That’s how you make stories.

Radio is the best way to start because it’s so cheap. Start with sound first, the story, that’s the important thing, and when it’s time for visual, that’s when you do that. I like to work it like that — cheaply, you know. We are “Indians,” we don’t have any money. If we do, then everyone is chasing you around for it. We gotta be wise for our dollars; we gotta get our people telling the stories.

Sun: Anything else happening with you?

Farmer: Yeah, I try to work on a new album every couple years.

Sun: Thank you, Gary. How would one get a hold of you regarding your music or acting?

Farmer: Thank you, I’m on Facebook, Twitter; I’m easy to get a hold of — just search Gary Farmer.

Visit: garyfarmerthetroublemakers.com

By Dee Velasco
For the Sun