Rumaldo Peshlakai, Felon in Possession of Firearms, New Mexico 2021

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Rumaldo Peshlakai Guilty of Felon in Possession of Firearms, Tsayatoh NM, 2021

A 43-year-old man from Tsayatoh, Rumaldo Peshlakai, has pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, according to the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, Alexander M.M. Uballez.

Peshlakai, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, was involved in a domestic dispute on September 23, 2021, at a residence in Tsayatoh. After the dispute, he left the residence in a vehicle with four children and multiple firearms and ammunition. Peshlakai stated that if any officers tried to stop him, he would shoot. An Amber Alert was issued for the four children in New Mexico and Arizona.

Officers from the Navajo Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation located the vehicle in a wooded area near the residence. Inside the vehicle, they found an empty box of ammunition and a single round. The officers tracked the footprints leading away from the vehicle for six miles to an abandoned housing area, where it appeared another vehicle arrived and picked up Peshlakai and the four children.

Peshlakai contacted NPD Dispatch that evening and informed them that the children were at a relative’s house. However, Peshlakai was not at the relative’s house and would not give his location. He agreed to turn himself in to the FBI the next morning. The children, who were unharmed, were recovered by law enforcement, and Peshlakai was arrested on September 24.

Law enforcement later tracked Peshlakai’s steps over the six-mile walk and discovered a gun case that he had buried while evading police. The case contained a rifle, two pistols, and ammunition. In a later interview, Peshlakai claimed not to know the location of any firearms and denied possessing them at all.

Peshlakai was previously convicted in 2001 of assault by striking, beating or wounding and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and in 2006 for being a felon in possession of ammunition. As a previously convicted felon, Peshlakai cannot legally possess firearms or ammunition. He faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing.

The Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office and the Navajo Police Department investigated this case with assistance from the FBI Phoenix Field Office, United States Marshals Service, New Mexico State Police, Navajo Police Department, McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexander F. Flores and Kimberly Bell are prosecuting the case.