Navajo Man from Shiprock Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Harrison Cambridge, 56, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to an abusive sexual contact charge.  Under the terms of his plea agreement, Cambridge will be sentenced within the range of 30 to 42 months in federal prison followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court.  Cambridge will also be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Cambridge was arrested in Dec. 2015, on a criminal complaint alleging that he sexually abused a Navajo child under the age of 12 on Dec. 20, 2015, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M.

Cambridge was indicted on Jan. 14, 2016, and charged with abusive sexual contact of a child under the age of 12.  During today’s change of plea hearing, Cambridge entered a guilty plea to the indictment.  Cambridge remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI and the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Spindle as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and DOJ’s Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/.