Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Assault Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Matthew Joel Torres, 27, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to an assault charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Torres was arrested on April 18, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a Mescalero Apache man on June 13, 2015, by stabbing him twice in the stomach.  The assault occurred on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M.

Torres pled guilty yesterday to a felony information charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon.  In entering the guilty plea, Torres admitted that on June 13, 2015, he assaulted the victim by stabbing him in the abdomen twice with a knife with intent to cause bodily harm.

At sentencing, Torres faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison.  He remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which 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.