Shiprock Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sex Abuse Charge
| U.S. Attorney’s Office July 17, 2012 |
ALBUQUERQUE—This morning in federal court in Albuquerque, Samuel Jackson, 55, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, New Mexico, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with abusive sexual contact under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During his plea hearing, Jackson admitted sexually assaulting a 14-year-old Navajo girl in a residence in Shiprock on August 5, 2011. At the time of the offense and until his arrest in January 2012, Jackson was employed as a back-up bus driver at Shiprock division of the Central Consolidated School District No. 22.
U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that the plea agreement requires that Jackson serve a 16-year prison sentence, to be followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. Jackson also will have to register as a sex offender. Jackson has been in custody since his arrest on January 24, 2012, and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety-Shiprock Division and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Presliano Torrez.