Mescalero Apache Man Sentenced to Thirty Months for Federal Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Nathaniel Chee, Jr., 53, a member and resident of the Mescalero Apache Nation, was sentenced yesterday afternoon to 30 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his abusive sexual contact conviction.  Chee will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.

Chee was arrested on July 25, 2012, based on a criminal complaint alleging that he sexually abused a child between the age of 12 and 16 years.  He has been in federal custody since that time.  On Nov. 28, 2012, Chee pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with abusive sexual contact.  In entering his guilty plea, Chee admitted sexually abusing a child on Nov. 11, 2009, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation.

This case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office. 

The case was brought 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/.