Navajo Man Sentenced to Federal Prison on Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE—Ronald Martinez, 39, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Borrego Pass, New Mexico, was sentenced this morning to 42 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his child sexual abuse conviction. Martinez will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Martinez was arrested in April 2013 on an indictment charging him with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and two counts of abusive sexual contact. According to the indictment, between 1996 and 2002, Martinez aided and abetted sexual contact and abuse with two child victims who had not attained the age of 12 years on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

On November 20, 2013, Martinez pleaded guilty to the two aggravated child sexual abuse charges. According to Martinez’s plea agreement, in September 2011, a 17-year-old victim reported being sexually abused by Martinez when she was 5 or 6 years old. The victim further reported that Martinez also abused another child during that same period in time. Martinez admitted abusing the two victims by directing a third child to sexually abuse and to sexually assault the two victims. Martinez also admitted threatening the two victims so that they would not reveal the abuse. Martinez admitted that the child who abused the two victims did so after being threatened by Martinez.

This case was investigated by the Gallup Resident Agency of the FBI. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Y. Ramirez 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/.