Courts

FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Brandon Barber, 36, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, made an initial appearance in federal court May 25 facing two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.

According to a criminal complaint, on the morning May 9, Barber arrived at the residence of a victim, identified in court records as John Doe, in Lower Fruitland, New Mexico.

John Doe was in his vehicle cleaning glass from a passenger side window that Barber allegedly broke the previous day. Barber allegedly approached John Doe with a hatchet and a machete and attempted to attack John Doe through the broken window. Read More

FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Wednesday, a federal jury convicted Fernando Angel Puga, aka Cholo, 36, from Las Cruces  of kidnapping, carjacking resulting in serious bodily injury and transportation of a stolen vehicle in interstate commerce.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, June 9, 2017, Puga and his co-defendant Sergio Ivan Quinonez-Venegas, 38, from Mexico, approached a man working at a food truck in El Paso, Texas. Puga and Quinonez told the victim their car had broken down and asked for a ride. While the victim was giving the defendants a ride to a nearby gas station, Read More

FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Tyler Sando, 32, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Jemez, pleaded guilty May 19 in Federal Court to assault resulting in serious bodily injury in Indian Country and assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer involving physical contact.

Sando will remain in custody pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

According to the plea agreement and other court records, Aug. 11, 2020, on the Jemez Pueblo, Sando got out of his vehicle, approached a victim and proceeded to strike him about the head and face. Sando then returned to his car and left.

As a result of Read More

FBI News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Roland Yazzie, 47, of Manuelito and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was sentenced May 13 in Federal Court to 15 years and eight months in prison for abusive sexual contact in Indian Country. Yazzie pleaded guilty Oct. 14, 2021.

In his plea agreement, Yazzie admitted that between June 1, 2016, and May 31, 2019, he engaged in sexual contact with a child, identified in court records as Jane Doe.

At time of the abuse, the victim was between seven and nine years old. The abuse occurred at the home of the victim’s mother in McKinley County, on the Navajo Nation.

Upon his release Read More