Mescalero Apache man sentenced on federal child sexual abuse charge

            ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Pasqual Francis Ortega, 35, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, New Mexico, was sentenced in federal court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, yesterday in a case involving sexual abuse of a minor. 

            Ortega was arrested on Aug. 14, 2019, on a criminal complaint charging him with sexual abuse of a minor, to which he pled guilty on November 25, 2019.  In entering the guilty plea, Ortega admitted that on July 6, 2019, when he was 34 years old, he knowingly engaged in a sexual act with a child who was 13 years old, and that he committed the crime on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

Ortega has been sentenced to 41 months in prison with 5 years of supervised release. Ortega will be required to register as a sex offender. 

            This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Las Cruces Resident Agency with assistance from the Mescalero Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Justice Services. The Case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.

# # #