Former Hatch Motor salesman targeted Navajo elders

ST. MICHAELS, Ariz. — Francisco Lerma, a former salesperson with Winslow Ford, Tate’s Auto Center and Hatch Motor, was sentenced March 22 in the Navajo County Superior Court after pleading guilty to four counts of fraudulent scheme and artifices.

The charge is a class two felony. Lerma will serve six years to run concurrently in the Department of Corrections with 338 days credit and three years supervised probation. In his plea agreement, Lerma also agreed to pay restitution to victims, which will be determined by the parties involved.

During the sentencing hearing and on behalf of the Commission, Varvara Phillips, a human rights...

A little bit of luck and some very good detective work led to the arrest of a Churchrock man March 26 for the armed robbery of the Dead Horse Mustang convenience store earlier that day.

Kyle Harrison, 34, is now facing nine charges — three counts of armed robbery, two counts of assault with intent to commit a violent robbery, three counts of larceny and one count of tampering with evidence.

Sgt. Robert Turney, an investigator with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, said he learned of the robbery around 2:30 am, shortly after it happened.

The phone call from Deputy Johnson Lee informed him that a man had entered the store with a knife, terrorized the two clerks and he then left...

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation filed a complaint against the City of Winslow and the federal government March 27 alleging civil rights violations in connection with the shooting death of Loreal Tsingine by Winslow police on March 27, 2016. Tsingine was shot five times at close range by Officer Austin Shipley. Tsingine was 5 feet tall and weighed 105 pounds; Officer Austin Shipley was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 200 pounds.

In its complaint, the Nation alleges that these actions by the Winslow police against Tsingine violated her civil right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The complaint also alleges that the failure of the federal...

Screaming and arguing

3/21, Gallup

An arguing couple attracted the attention of Gallup Police Department officers, and led them to solve a robbery from the day before.

GPD Officer Adrian Quetawki was dispatched to the area of Grandview Avenue and Junker bridge after someone reported a woman screaming in the area.

After arriving he met another patrolman, Douglas Hoffman, who had also been dispatched to the scene. As they approached the couple on the bridge, they saw a woman, Vanessa Lee, 31, of Red Rock and a man, Richard Gantar, 31, of Albuquerque who was seen fumbling with something in his pocket.

Hoffman went and picked it up and discovered it was a social security...