MAN FROM DULCE, N.M., CHARGED WITH ASSAULT CAUSING SERIOUS BODILY INJURY IN INDIAN COUNTRY

ALBUQUERQUE – Ronnie Tiznado, 46, of Dulce, N.M., appeared in federal court on Wednesday on charges of assaulting his wife on the Jicarilla Apache Nation Indian Reservation. 

Tiznado is charged by criminal complaint with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and assault of a spouse by strangling, suffocating, or attempting to strangle or suffocate.  According to the complaint, Tiznado sent threatening text messages to his wife while she was working at a store on June 1, 2019.  In these text messages, Tiznado threatened to kill the victim and beat her to death.  Early the next morning, Tiznado located her at Stone Lake, a community near Dulce, N.M.  Tiznado pulled her from her car by the hair and hit, kicked, and choked her.  The victim suffered a broken nose and severe bleeding and swelling to her face with one of her eyes swollen shut.    She also suffered bruises, scratches, and redness on her neck, arms, ribs, back, and chest, all requiring treatment at a hospital in Farmington.

Tiznado is currently out of custody awaiting trial.  He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of these offenses.  A criminal complaint is only an accusation.   A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The Farmington office of the FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick T. Mendenhall III is prosecuting the case.