Tyrone Chavez

Nov. 11, 8:53 pm

DWI

McKinley County Sheriff’s Lt. Eric D. Jim got a call from Metro dispatch about a reckless vehicle driving the wrong direction down a highway. The vehicle pulled into and then drove out of the Fire Rock Casino parking lot before hitting another vehicle on Sundance Road. Jim located the bumper-damaged vehicle and pulled over Chavez, 44, who had red watery eyes and intoxicated speech, according to the police report. Jim noticed a “large bottle of vodka in the center console… which was open and partially consumed,” according to the police report. Chavez showed signs of intoxication on three field sobriety tests, and later blew a .22...

An accident occurred on Interstate 40 on Nov. 27, when one vehicle rear-ended and clipped a second vehicle, after the driver dropped an item and was distracted from the road. Both vehicles were traveling at about 60 MPH. The vehicle that was struck had its hazard lights on, as the driver was slowing down and attempting to exit the interstate. Neither driver was injured, but both cars sustained heavy damage.

A fire broke out on the Mariano Lake Loop on Nov. 26. McKinley County Sheriff’s Deputy Nocona Clark reported to the scene early in the morning, at 4:01 am. One of the occupants of the building told Clark that he had tried to pull his mother out of the burning house but the...

PHOENIX – On Nov. 27, Nathan Joe, 36, of Nazlini, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi to 21 months in prison for physically abusing a child on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

In February 2014, Joe physically assaulted the minor victim, including slapping him with enough force to leave a handprint-sized bruise on the victim’s face. Both Joe and the victim were living on the Navajo Indian Reservation at the time the assault occurred. Joe is an enrolled member of that tribe.

The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Christine D. Keller, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Phoenix.

Defendant prosecuted as part of federal initiative to address the epidemic incidence of violence against native women

ALBUQUERQUE – Shayliss Ellsworth, 24, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Crownpoint, pleaded guilty on Nov. 27 in federal court in Albuquerque to assault charges. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Ellsworth faces a prison sentence within the range of 70 to 87 months followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.

Ellsworth was arrested on June 21 on a criminal complaint charging him with stabbing two Navajo women with a knife on June 17, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County. As the result of the assault...