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Press Release

Mescalero man pleads guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico

           ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Samuel Joseph Chee, 26, of Mescalero, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, pleaded guilty in federal court on Oct. 8 to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon.

           In the plea agreement, Chee admitted that in January he assaulted a victim identified in court records as Jane Doe with a knife. Jane Doe, also an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, suffered a multiple lacerations to both arms and one thumb and required emergency medical treatment.

           The assault occurred on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Otero County, New Mexico.

           By the terms of the plea agreement, Chee faces 18 months in prison in addition to five months he served in Mescalero tribal custody for the same offense. Upon his release from prison, Chee will be subject to three years of supervised release.

           The Bureau of Indian Affairs investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan is prosecuting the case.

Updated October 9, 2020

Topics
Indian Country Law and Justice
Violent Crime
Press Release Number: 20-186