Tohatchi Man Sentenced to Almost 23 Years in Prison for Federal Child Sexual Abuse Conviction

ALBUQUERQUE – Donald Norton, 46, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Tohatchi, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., for his child sex abuse conviction.  Norton was sentenced to 275 months in federal prison followed by ten years of supervised release.  He also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.  Norton will be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.

Norton’s sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Special Agent in Charge Terry Wade of the FBI’s Albuquerque Division, and Director Jesse Delmar of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.

Norton was arrested on Dec. 2, 2013, on a two-count indictment alleging that he sexually abused the victim in Dec. 2009 and on a date between May 2010 and Aug. 2010.  The indictment alleged that Norton committed the crimes on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.

On May 27, 2015, Norton pled guilty to a felony information charging him with one count of aggravated sexual abuse.  In entering his guilty plea, Norton admitted sexually molesting a child in Dec. 2009.

This case was investigated by the Albuquerque office of the FBI and the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacob Wishard 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/.