Alamo Man Sentenced to Prison for Federal Assault Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Prescott Apachito, 25, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Alamo, N.M., was sentenced this morning to 24 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release for his assault conviction.

Apachito was arrested on Feb. 11, 2013, based on a criminal complaint charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm.  Apachito subsequently was indicted and charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.  According to the indictment, Apachito committed the offense on Nov. 29, 2012, in Socorro County, N.M., on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

On July 25, 2013, Apachito entered a guilty plea to Count 2 of the indictment charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon.  Apachito admitted that in the early morning hours of Nov. 29, 2012, during an argument with several others, he pulled a utility knife out of his pocket and cut a female victim by slicing her neck.  He further admitted stabbing a male victim in the stomach when the victim attempted to restrain him.  In his plea agreement, Apachito admitted committing this criminal conduct on the Navajo Indian Reservation.  

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI and the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney David Adams. The case was brought pursuant to 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 women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's on-going efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.