Man from San Felipe Pueblo sentenced to life in federal prison for sexually abusing child in Indian Country

           ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  – Senior United States District Judge Judith C. Herrera sentenced Tyrone Coriz, 49, of San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico, in federal court in Albuquerque today to life imprisonment for aggravated sexual abuse of a child in Indian Country.

           On May 22, 2019, a federal jury returned a verdict of guilty against Coriz, following a three-day trial, on two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child in Indian Country. According to the evidence presented at his trial, Coriz sexually abused the victim between November 1, 2015, and December 27, 2015.  Coriz lived in the same home as the victim and other family members.   He committed these offenses at night while other household members were sleeping.  Three other victims testified that Coriz also abused them in similar ways.      

           As a repeat offender of sex offenses against minors, Coriz faced mandatory life imprisonment based on his previous conviction for another federal sex crime in 1992. 

           The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated this case with assistance from the Santa Ana Police Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas Marshall and Kyle Nayback prosecuted the case.