Jicarilla Apache Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Federal Prison for Aggravated Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE—Gary Sidney Vicenti, 53, a member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation who resides in Dulce, New Mexico, was sentenced today to 12 years in federal prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for his aggravated child sexual abuse conviction. Vicenti will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.

Vicenti’s sentence was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Steven C. Yarbrough; Carol K.O. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the Albuquerque Division of the FBI; and Police Chief Kendall P. Vicenti of the Jicarilla Apache Tribal Police Department.

Vicenti was arrested in November 2012 on a criminal complaint alleging that he sexually abused a child under the age of 12 in summer 2011 on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation. In May 2013, Vicenti entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with aggravated sexual abuse and admitted sexually abusing the child victim by inappropriately touching the victim. Vicenti also admitted that his criminal conduct occurred on June 1, 2011, in the Jicarilla Apache Reservation.

The case was investigated by the Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI and the Jicarilla Apache Tribal Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Presiliano A. Torrez 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/.