Navajo Man from Arizona Sentenced to Ten Years for Federal Child Sexual Abuse Conviction in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE – Aaron Hubbard, 34, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Fort Defiance, Ariz., was sentenced today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to 120 months in federal prison followed by ten years of supervised release for his abusive sexual contact of a minor child conviction.  Hubbard will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.

Hubbard was arrested on Feb. 25, 2015, on an indictment alleging that he sexually abused a child victim from Sept. 1, 2011 through May 30, 2012, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.

On Nov. 2, 2015, Hubbard entered a guilty plea to an abusive sexual contact with a child charge.  In entering his guilty plea, Hubbard admitted sexually molesting a Navajo child who was less than 12 years old from Sept. 1, 2011 through May 30, 2012.  Hubbard committed the crime 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.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Raquel Ruiz-Velez prosecuted the case under 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/.