Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty To Sexually Abusing A Minor

ALBUQUERQUE – Gregory Warren Second, 22, a member and resident of the Mescalero Apache Nation, pled guilty this afternoon to sexually abusing a minor under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales and DuWayne W. Honahni, Sr., Special Agent in Charge of District IV of BIA’s Office of Justice Services.

Second was arrested in Nov. 2012, on a criminal complaint alleging that in May 2012, he engaged in a sexual act with an Indian child between the ages of 12 and 16 years on the Mescalero Indian Reservation. He has been in custody since his arrest.

During this afternoon’s proceedings, Second entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with sexual abuse of a child under the age of 16 years. Second admitted that on May 22, 2012, he knowingly engaged in a sexual act with a 12-year-old child.

Second will remain in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be set. At sentencing, Second faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison to be followed by at least five years of supervised release. Second also will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the BIA’s Office of Justice Services, Mescalero Agency 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, local and tribal 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 www.justice.gov/psc/.