San Ildefonso Pueblo Man Sentenced for Federal Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Juan Pena, 72, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of San Ildefonso who resides in Santa Fe, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court to 24 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his child sexual abuse conviction.  Pena will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.

Pena was arrested on Aug. 19, 2015, on an indictment charging him with abusive sexual contact of a minor between the age of 12 and 16 years.  The indictment charged Pena with committing the crime on May 25, 2015, in the Pueblo of San Ildefonso in Santa Fe County, N.M.

On Feb. 5, 2016, Pena pled guilty to the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement.  Pena admitted that on May 25, 2015, he engaged in sexual contact with the victim, a child between the age of 12 and 16 years, with intent to abuse, humiliate, harass and degrade the victim.

This case was investigated by the Santa Fe office of the FBI and the Northern Pueblos Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services. 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Raquel Ruiz-Velez 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/.