Newcomb Man Pleads Guilty to Assault Upon a Federal Officer and Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury

ALBUQUERQUE – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office, announced that Kenneth Lee Begay pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of assault upon a federal officer inflicting bodily injury and one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury. Begay, 59, of Newcomb, New Mexico, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, will remain on conditions of release pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.

On June 4, 2023, after Begay interrupted a Chapter House meeting with verbal threats, two Navajo Nation Police Department officers went to his home. As the officers tried to arrest Begay, he unlawfully resisted. Begay struck both officers. One of the officers, Jane Doe, received various injuries, to include cuts, abrasions, and a shoulder injury that persists to the present day.

At sentencing, Begay faces up to 20 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with the assistance of the Navajo Police Department and Department of Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary C. Jones is prosecuting the case.

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