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Press Release

Shiprock Man Sentenced for Statutory Rape Conviction

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Lancelot Lapahie, 26, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., was sentenced today for his statutory rape conviction.  As required by the terms of his plea agreement, Lapahie was sentenced to 24 months in prison followed by ten years of supervised release.  He also was ordered to register as a sex offender.  The 24-month prison sentence will be served concurrently with a 50-month prison sentence Lapahie already is serving for his conviction on assault and firearms charges.  

Lapahie was arrested in Nov. 2013 on an indictment charging him with statutory rape.  According to the indictment, between Aug. 2010 and Dec. 2011, Lapahie engaged in a sexual act with a minor under the age of 16 years.  In Feb. 2014, Lapahie entered a guilty plea to the indictment.

The 50-month prison sentence was imposed on Lapahie in May 2013, following his guilty plea to two assault charges and a possession of an unregistered firearm charge.  In entering his guilty plea to those charges, Lapahie admitted that in March 2012, he struck a man with a baseball bat and repeatedly struck another man about the head, arms and body with a machete.  The victim of the machete attack suffered multiple stab wounds and cuts to his head, face, forearm, leg and back.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Novaline D. Wilson, and was investigated by the Albuquerque and Farmington offices of the FBI and the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety with assistance from the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services.

Updated January 26, 2015