Gilbert Yazzie, Child Sexual Abuse, New Mexico 2023

A Shiprock man was sentenced to eight years in federal prison for child sexual abuse, the U.S. Attorney's office announced.

Gilbert Yazzie, 45, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was arrested in June 2013 for his role in a sexual act with a Navajo child under the age of 12 years.

According to court filings, Yazzie sexually abused the child victim on June 15, 2013, in a residence in Shiprock, which is within the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Yazzie pled guilty to a felony information charging him with sexually abusing a child and admitted that on June 15, 2013, he engaged in a sexual act with the child victim.

The case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI and the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Novaline D. Wilson and Glynette R. Carson McNabb.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Yazzie will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Yazzie was sentenced to eight years in federal prison followed by 15 years of supervised release.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/shiprock-man-sentenced-eight-years-federal-child-sexual-abuse-conviction