Church Rock Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charge

ALBUQUERQUE—This morning in federal court in Albuquerque, Johnson John, 65, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Church Rock, New Mexico, pled guilty to an aggravated sexual abuse charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Under the terms of the plea agreement, John will be sentenced to five years of imprisonment to be followed by at least five years of supervised release. John also will be required to register as a sex offender. John has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 5, 2009, and he remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

John initially was charged in a criminal complaint filed on June 2, 2009 and subsequently was indicted and charged with four counts of abusive sexual contact of a minor and aggravated sexual abuse of a minor. Proceedings in the case were delayed by competency proceedings.

This morning, John entered a guilty plea to count four of the indictment charging him with aggravated sexual abuse of a minor. In his plea agreement, John admitted that, between May 1, 2000 and September 1, 2000, he attempted to sexually assault a 12-year-old female child. The plea agreement states that John lured the child victim into his home by telling her that the children she was looking for were in his home. Once inside, John physically forced the child victim onto a couch, removed her pants and underwear, and positioned himself on top of the child victim. John did not complete the sexual assault on the child victim because he noticed another child watching through the window. The plea agreement states that the attempted sexual assault occurred within the Navajo Indian Reservation.

This case was investigated by the Gallup Resident Agency of the Albuquerque Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Niki Tapia-Brito.