Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting a Federal Officer

ALBUQUERQUE – Ronald Roy Blaylock, Sr., 34, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., pled guilty yesterday afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to assaulting a federal officer.

Blaylock was arrested on June 1, 2017, on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a federal officer.  According to the criminal complaint, Blaylock was arrested on tribal charges after he assaulted a law enforcement officer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).  Blaylock committed the assault on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M., on Jan. 30, 2016, by head-butting the officer while the officer was arresting Blaylock.  The officer sustained a bump and bruise to his head as the result of the assault.

Blaylock was subsequently charged by indictment on Oct. 19, 2017, with assaulting a federal officer on Jan. 30, 2016, in Otero County.

During yesterday’s proceedings, Blaylock pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on Jan. 30, 2016, he assaulted a BIA officer by intentionally head-butting the officer.  At sentencing, Blaylock faces a maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison.  A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

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.