FBI: Navajo Man Pleads Guilty To Child Abuse

FBI News:

  • Prosecution Brought Under Project Safe Childhood; Defendant Faces 15 Year Prison Sentence

ALBUQUERQUE – Asa Jake, 40, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Pine Hill, pled guilty Friday in federal court in Albuquerque to child sexual abuse charges. Jake’s plea agreement recommends a 15-year prison sentence followed by a term of supervised release to be determined by the court. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

Jake was arrested April 25, 2018, on an eight-count indictment charging him with sexually abusing a child under the age of 12 between November 2013 and December 2015. The indictment alleged that Jake committed two acts of abusive sexual contact between August 2015 and December 2015, and six acts of aggravated sexual abuse between November 2013 and December 2015. According to the indictment, Jake committed the crimes on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County.

During Friday’s proceedings, Jake pled guilty to two counts of abusive sexual contact. In entering the guilty plea, Jake admitted sexually abusing the child, who was under the age of 12, on two separate occasions between August 2015 and December 2015, at a location on the Navajo Indian Reservation. 

Jake has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Gallup Office of the FBI and the Ramah Navajo Tribal Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa C. Dimas is prosecuting 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, visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ (link is external).

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