Crownpoint Man Sentenced to Ten Years for Federal Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Elban Al Johnson, 34, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Crownpoint, N.M., was sentenced this morning to ten years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for his child sexual abuse conviction.   Johnson will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.
                            
Johnson was arrested in March 2013, on a criminal complaint charging him with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old Indian child in Crownpoint, N.M., which is located within the Navajo Indian Reservation, in Nov. 2012.  According to court filings, the child victim was in Johnson’s care when Johnson committed the crime. 

On Aug. 27, Johnson pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with abusive sexual contact.  At his plea hearing, Johnson admitted sexually assaulting the child victim on Nov. 5, 2012.

This case was investigated by the Gallup office of the FBI and the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Novaline D. Wilson.

The case was brought 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/.