Navajo Man from Thoreau, N.M., Sentenced to 140 Months in Federal Prison for Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Bronson Ranger, 36, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Thoreau, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 140 months in prison followed by 25 years of supervised release for his aggravated child sexual abuse conviction.  Ranger will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.

Ranger was arrested on Dec. 12, 2012, on an indictment alleging that he sexually abused an Indian child under the age of 12 years between Aug. 1, 2008 and Oct. 30, 2008.  The indictment alleged that Ranger violated the young victim in a location within the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.

On April 30, 2015, Ranger entered a guilty plea to a felony information charging him with aggravated sexual abuse.  In entering his guilty plea, Ranger admitted sexually molesting the victim in a location within the Navajo Indian Reservation.

This case was investigated by the Gallup office of the FBI and the Crownpoint office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Nayback 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/.