Bloomfield Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Statutory Rape Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Orlando Harvey, 24, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Bloomfield, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning to a sexual abuse of a minor charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Harvey was arrested on Dec. 22, 2014, on an indictment charging him with four counts of sexual abuse of a minor.  According to the indictment, Harvey engaged in a sexual act with the victim who was under 16 years of age on four occasions between Aug. 2014 and Oct. 2014.  The indictment alleged that the crimes occurred on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M.

During today’s hearing, Harvey entered a guilty plea to Count 1 of the indictment, and admitted engaging in a sexual act with the 15-year-old victim in Aug. 2014.  Harvey admitted knowing that the victim was only 15 years old when he picked her up at school and drove her to his residence where they engaged in a sexual act.  Harvey then drove the victim back to school.  He acknowledged that he manipulated the victim into engaging in a sexual act with him.

Harvey has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.  At sentencing, Harvey faces a statutory maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

This case was investigated by the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Raquel Ruiz Velez and Elaine Ramirez 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/.