Navajo Man from Churchrock Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – Adrian Tom, 38, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Church Rock, N.M., pled guilty earlier this week in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to an abusive sexual contact charge. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Tom will be sentenced within the range of 37 to 63 months in prison followed by not less than five years of supervised release. Tom will also be required to register as a sex offender when he completes his prison sentence.

On March 29, 2017, Tom pled guilty to a felony information charging him with abusive sexual contact with a child under the age of 12 years on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M. In entering his guilty plea, Tom admitted that in March 2010, he engaged in sexual contact with an eight-year-old Indian child while on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Tom remains in federal custody pending a sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Gallup office of the FBI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease 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/.