Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Abuse

Darwin Neal Kinzhuma, 51, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation from Mescalero, N.M., admitted in federal court today to sexually abusing a Native woman on tribal land in 2015. The guilty plea, entered in Las Cruces, marks the end of a nearly eight-year legal pursuit for a violent crime that shattered trust and safety within the close-knit reservation community.

Kinzhuma pled guilty to aggravated sexual abuse, a federal felony, stemming from an attack that occurred June 28, 2015, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County. Prosecutors say the assault took place under circumstances that exploited both physical control and the isolation common to rural tribal lands, where resources for victims remain scarce and jurisdictional hurdles often stall justice.

Under the terms of his plea agreement, Kinzhuma faces 81 months in federal prison followed by an undetermined period of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender upon release—a label that follows him for life. He remains in custody as the court prepares for sentencing, a date yet to be set.

The case was cracked open by investigators with the Mescalero Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services. Their work led to Kinzhuma’s arrest on March 23, 2016, after a criminal complaint was filed. A federal grand jury returned an indictment on August 17, 2016, keeping the charge alive through years of procedural navigation and tribal-federal coordination.

Prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan in the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office. The case moved in federal court under the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project, a Justice Department initiative aimed at empowering tribal prosecutors to pursue violent crimes against Native women with federal tools and training.

Funded by the Office on Violence Against Women and administered through the Pueblo of Laguna, the Tribal SAUSA program responds to long-standing calls from tribal leaders for stronger, more coordinated action on sexual violence. This conviction, though years in the making, signals a shift—where crimes once buried by jurisdictional chaos are now being dragged into the light.

RELATED: Socorro Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Meth Trafficking

RELATED: Paul Raymond Garcia Pleads Guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter