Ruben Cheykaychi, BB Gun Assault with Intent to Harm, New Mexico 2016

Ruben Cheykaychi, 35, of Kewa Pueblo, N.M., stood silently in a federal courtroom in Albuquerque today before pleading guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm — admitting he terrorized his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint with a BB gun that looked like a real handgun.

The attack occurred April 20, 2016, on tribal land in Sandoval County, when Cheykaychi spotted his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle parked in a remote area of the Kewa Pueblo Indian Reservation. After a failed attempt to speak with her, he snapped — yelling, threatening, and retrieving the BB gun from his own car, according to court documents filed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).

Cheykaychi admitted in his plea agreement that he pressed the BB gun to the woman’s head, threatened to shoot her, and then shoved it into her mouth while continuing to scream and demand her car keys. The act, intended to immobilize and intimidate, crossed the threshold from domestic dispute to federal violent crime due to the weapon’s use and the location on tribal land.

The BIA’s Southern Pueblos Agency arrested Cheykaychi in May 2017 after a grand jury returned the indictment. Federal jurisdiction applies because crimes involving assault with dangerous weapons on tribal reservations fall under U.S. federal law when prosecuted by federal authorities.

At sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled, Cheykaychi faces a maximum of ten years in federal prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Marshall is handling the prosecution under the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project — a Justice Department initiative funded by the Office on Violence Against Women and administered through the Pueblo of Laguna.

The Tribal SAUSA program aims to strengthen prosecutions of violent crimes against Native women by training tribal prosecutors in federal law and investigative tactics. This case exemplifies the project’s mission: ensuring violent offenders like Cheykaychi don’t slip through jurisdictional cracks between tribal and federal systems. For now, justice waits on a sentencing date — but the victim’s account has already left a mark on the record.