NAVAJO MAN FROM COYOTE CANYON SENTENCED TO 18 YEARS FOR FEDERAL CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CONVICTION

ALBUQUERQUE – Harold Lee Redhouse, Jr., 29, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation from Coyote Canyon, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to 18 years of imprisonment for sexually abusing two children under the age of 12 years.  Redhouse will be on supervised release for ten years after completing his prison sentence.  He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

            The FBI arrested Redhouse in Jan. 2018, on a criminal complaint following an investigation that was initiated in summer 2017, based on a referral from the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services, which reported allegations that Redhouse had sexually abused two children under the age of 12 years.

In Feb. 2019, Redhouse pled to a felony information charging him with two counts of abusive sexual contact.  In his plea agreement, Redhouse admitted to sexually abusing two minors under the age of 12 years in locations within the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.  Redhouse admitted to abusing one victim between June 2008 and June 2009, and the second victim in May 2017.

            The case was investigated by the Gallup office of the FBI with assistance from the Navajo Nation Division of Social Services.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa C. Dimas prosecuted this case 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/.