Zuni Woman Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Cocaine on the Zuni Reservation

ALBUQUERQUE—Earlier today, Alexandria Lee Tsalabutie, a 20-year-old enrolled member of the Pueblo of Zuni, entered a guilty plea to a five-count indictment charging her with narcotics trafficking offenses. At sentencing, Tsalabutie faces up a minimum one-year term of imprisonment and a maximum 40 years’ imprisonment. Tsalabutie has been in federal custody since her arrest on September 21, 2010, and remains detained pending her sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

The five-count indictment to which Tsalabutie entered her guilty pleas was filed on September 16, 2010 and charged her with: two counts of cocaine distribution; one count of using a telephone to facilitate a drug trafficking crime; one count of distribution of cocaine in or near a school or college; and one count of distributing cocaine in or near a public housing facility. According to the indictment, Tsalabutie’s criminal conduct occurred in February 2010. One of Tsalabutie’s cocaine distributions took place on the Zuni campus of the University of New Mexico, and the second took place in Tsalabutie’s residence which is owned by Zuni Native Housing Authority.

The case was investigated by the Pueblo of Zuni Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Samuel A. Hurtado.