A Mescalero Apache man was sentenced to 81 months in prison for his conviction on a sexual abuse charge in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Darwin Neal Kinzhuma, 52, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., was sentenced on December 21, 2017, to 81 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his conviction on an aggravated sexual abuse charge.
Kinzhuma was arrested on March 23, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with sexually abusing a Mescalero Apache woman on June 28, 2015, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M. Kinzhuma was subsequently indicted on the same charge on August 17, 2016.
In entering the guilty plea, Kinzhuma admitted that on June 28, 2015, he sexually abused the victim on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation.
This case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
The case was brought pursuant to the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico, which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna.
The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both.
Kinzhuma will also be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.
Related Federal Cases
- Darwin Neal Kinzhuma, Sex Abuse of Native Woman, New Mexico 2015 · New Mexico
- Herbert Ben Jr., Aggravated Sexual Abuse, New Mexico 2023 · New Mexico
- Julius H. Willie, Aggravated Sexual Abuse, New Mexico 2012 · New Mexico
- Daniel Pete Valdez, Sexual Abuse of a Minor, New Mexico 2023 · New Mexico
- Michael Bow Smith, Child Sexual Abuse, New Mexico 2023 · New Mexico
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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