Navajo Man Sentenced to Prison for Federal Assault Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Gregory Secatero, 33, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Albuquerque, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court to 41 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his conviction on federal assault charges.

Secatero was arrested on Feb. 12, 2015, on a criminal complaint charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and child abuse in Indian Country.  Court documents indicate that on Jan. 17, 2015, Secatero was involved in a car crash that seriously injured two passengers, a woman and a child, who were in Secatero’s vehicle.  Both victims were ejected from the vehicle; the woman suffered a punctured left lung and seven left rib fractures and the child suffered a small subdural hematoma and left femur spiral fracture.  Two other children who were in the vehicle were not seriously injured.  Secatero was intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Secatero was indicted on March 10, 2015, and charged with two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of child abuse for endangering the lives of three children.  According to the indictment, Secatero committed the crimes on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Bernalillo County, N.M.

On Jan. 21, 2016, Secatero pled guilty to two counts of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.  In entering his guilty plea, Secatero admitted assaulting the victims, causing them to sustain serious bodily injuries, while driving under the influence of alcohol. 

This case was investigated by the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shammara Henderson.