Crownpoint Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Aggravated Child Sexual Abuse Charge
| U.S. Attorney’s OfficeApril 29, 2013 |
ALBUQUERQUE—Justin Kenneth, 20, a member and resident of the Navajo Nation, pleaded guilty last Thursday to an aggravated sexual abuse charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Kenneth will be sentenced to a federal prison term of eight to 10 years, followed by a term of supervised release of five years to life to be determined by the court. Kenneth also will be required to register as a sex offender.
Kenneth was arrested in December 2010 on a criminal complaint alleging that he sexually abused a child under the age of 12 in October 2010 on the Navajo Indian Reservation. During his plea hearing, Kenneth entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with aggravated sexual abuse and admitted sexually abusing the child victim by touching the child’s genitals. Kenneth further admitted that he committed this crime on October 6, 2010, at a residence located on the Navajo Indian Reservation.
Kenneth was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after entering his guilty plea. He will remain detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI and the Crownpoint Office of the Navajo Division of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob A. Wishard is prosecuting the case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.
No comments:
Post a Comment