ALBUQUERQUE – Patrick Begay, 43, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Churchrock, N.M., was sentenced Aug. 8 in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to 216 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his conviction on an abusive sexual contact charge. Begay will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Begay was arrested in Nov. 2016, on a four-count indictment charging him with sexually abusing a child under the age of 12 years from Nov. 2013 through Dec. 2015, and engaging in sexual contact with a child under the age of 12 years on Jan. 6, 2016. Begay committed the offenses on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.

On...

ALBUQUERQUE – Bree Lynn Coonsis, 25, a member and resident of Zuni Pueblo, N.M., pled guilty Aug. 9 in federal court in Albuquerque, to a voluntary manslaughter charge. Coonsis entered the guilty plea under a plea agreement that recommends that she be sentenced to an eight-year term of imprisonment followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court

Coonsis was arrested on May 10, on a criminal complaint charging her with killing a woman on the Zuni Pueblo on April 29, in McKinley County. According to the criminal complaint, Coonsis killed the victim by hitting the victim with her car while Coonsis was driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor or...

Photos by Knifewing Segura

SAN RAFAEL – The Cibola County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information related to the disappearance of a San Rafael woman on Sunday.

Alicia Corina Sonneborn was last seen Aug. 6 and reported missing from her home by her sister. No indications of her whereabouts have been found since she was last seen.

Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace said Thursday that the department is still engaged in an acitve search but have found nothing to help locate the missing woman. “We are using K9s, drones, ground troops and luminol. We brought in more K9s,” he said.

Sonneborn is 57 years old, five feet tall and weighs approximately 130 pounds. She was last seen wearing black capri-type pants...