Justin Owen Poblano, Aggravated Child Sexual Abuse, New Mexico 2012

A 25-year-old man from Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his conviction on an aggravated child sexual abuse charge.

Justin Owen Poblano, an enrolled member and resident of Zuni Pueblo, was arrested in August 2012, on an indictment charging him with engaging in a sexual act with a child between 12 and 16 years of age.

The indictment alleged that Poblano committed the crime on June 10, 2012, on the Zuni Pueblo in McKinley County, New Mexico. Proceedings in the case were delayed during the pendency of competency proceedings, which concluded in October 2014, when the Court found him competent to stand trial.

Poblano has remained in federal custody from the time of his arrest.

On July 12, 2017, Poblano pled guilty to a felony information charging him with aggravated sexual abuse. In entering the guilty plea, Poblano admitted that on June 10, 2012, while at a residence on the Zuni Pueblo, he forced the victim to engage in a sexual act.

This case was investigated by the Zuni Pueblo Tribal Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Nayback prosecuted this case as part of 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 American women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both.

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