ALBUQUERQUE - Daniel Pete Valdez, 44, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to 87 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his conviction on a sexual abuse charge. Valdez will be required to register as a sex offender after completing his prison sentence.
Valdez was arrested on Aug. 25, 2015, on a criminal complaint charging him with sexually assaulting a woman on June 20, 2014, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County., N.M. Valdez was subsequently indicted on Jan. 20, 2016, on a sexual abuse charge.
According to court documents, Valdez engaged in a sexual act with the victim while she was unconscious and physically incapable of declining participation in or communicating unwillingness to engage in the sexual act. On June 20, 2016, Valdez pled guilty without the benefit of a plea agreement.
This case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
