ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO – A 24-year-old man from Zuni Pueblo has admitted to forcing a child to engage in a sexual act in June 2012. Justin Owen Poblano, 24, an enrolled member and resident of Zuni Pueblo, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to an aggravated child sexual abuse charge under a plea agreement that recommends a maximum sentence of 15 years of imprisonment.
Poblano will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence. The guilty plea was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney James D. Tierney and Chief Timothy Trimble of the Zuni Pueblo Tribal Police Department.
Poblano 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 on June 10, 2012, on the Zuni Pueblo in McKinley County, N.M. According to court documents, proceedings in the case were delayed during the pendency of competency proceedings. Poblano remained in federal custody from the time of his arrest until the court found him competent in October 2014.
During today’s proceedings, 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.
Poblano remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for July 25, 2017, in Santa Fe, N.M.
The case was investigated by the Zuni Pueblo Tribal Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Nayback is prosecuting 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.
The case is also being prosecuted under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the DOJ to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Key Facts
- State: New Mexico
- Category: Sex Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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