Crownpoint Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Sexual Abuse Charges

ALBUQUERQUE – Tomson Largo, 26, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Crownpoint, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to sexual abuse charges.  Under the terms of his plea agreement, Largo will be sentenced to 90 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.  He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

Largo was arrested on Oct. 29, 2014, on a three-count indictment charging him with attempted aggravated sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, and abusive sexual contact.  The indictment alleged that Largo committed the offenses on multiple occasions between July 2011 and March 2014, in McKinley County, N.M., within the Navajo Indian Reservation.

During today’s proceedings, Largo pled guilty to all three counts of the indictment.  In entering his guilty plea, Largo admitted that between July 1, 2011 and Aug. 31, 2011, he attempted to sexually abuse the victim, an Indian woman, while she was sleeping with her two children.  He further admitted that in Dec. 2011, he used force to sexually assault the victim, and in March 2014, he assaulted the victim by shoving his hands down her pants and touching her between the legs.  Largo admitted committing each of the three crimes at a residence in Crownpoint.

This case was investigated by the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and the Gallup office of the FBI, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristopher N. Houghton.

The case was brought pursuant to the Tribal Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Tribal SAUSA) Pilot Project in the District of New Mexico which is sponsored by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women under a grant administered by the Pueblo of Laguna.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project seeks to train tribal prosecutors in federal law, procedure and investigative techniques to increase the likelihood that every viable violent offense against Native women is prosecuted in either federal court or tribal court, or both.  The Tribal SAUSA Pilot Project was largely driven by input gathered from annual tribal consultations on violence against women, and is another step in the Justice Department's on-going efforts to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.