Navajo Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Abusing 4-Year-Old Child

ALBUQUERQUE—This morning in federal court in Albuquerque, Cassadine McDonald, 26, entered a guilty plea to a three-count information charging him with aggravated sexual abuse under a plea agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office. Under the terms of his plea agreement, McDonald will be sentenced to a 15-year term of imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release. After completing his prison sentence, McDonald will be required to register as a sex offender. McDonald, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Two Grey Hills, New Mexico, has been in federal custody since his arrest on March 31, 2011 and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that, during today’s plea hearing, McDonald admitted forcing a 4-year-old female child to engage in sexual acts on three separate occasions between August 2010 and January 2011. The crimes occurred in residences located within the boundaries of the Navajo Indian Reservation.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, on March 8, 2011, the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that it had taken custody of the child on February 23, 2011 after the child complained that McDonald had hurt her with his fingers and gestured towards her vaginal area. In his plea agreement, McDonald stated that each of the three acts of sexual abuse occurred when he was giving the victim a bath. McDonald admitted putting the index finger of his right hand inside the child’s vagina and stopping only when the child told him it hurt.

The case was investigated by the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark T. Baker.