Diné Education Center burglarized

WINDOW ROCK, March 7, 2013

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W INDOW ROCK - Personnel from the Navajo Nation Facilities Maintenance Department were busy cleaning after a burglary took place in the early morning hours of March 1 at the Diné Education Center.

The main entrance was marked off with yellow crime scene tape and staff was not allowed inside. It will remain closed until it is cleaned and secured, said Facilities Management Department Manager Marcus Tulley.

Housed in the building are the Department of Diné Education executive offices, the tribe's scholarship and financial aid office, Navajo Head Start, the Johnson O'Malley Program, Office of Youth Development, Office of Research and Planning, Diné Culture and Language, and Vocational Rehabilitation.

Majority of the damage was in the offices of Head Start and the Johnson O'Malley Program.

Binders and papers were tossed on the floor, desktop computers were disassembled and laptop-docking stations were emptied in Head Start while broken glass was swept in the Johnson O'Malley offices.

The portion of the tribe's Division of Finance that was relocated to the building's auditorium in 2011 was not affected, Tulley said.

Navajo Police Department Sgt. Antonio Cooke said police were notified around 4 a.m. about the break-in after an employee noticed broken glass at the main entrance.

As an officer arrived on scene, he saw a man running from the building. The officer went around the building to look for the individual and found a parked vehicle. After the officer wrote the license plate number of the vehicle, he continued searching for the man.

While the search continued, the vehicle left the scene so the officer ran the license plate and found out it was registered to an address in Rio Puerco Estates in Fort Defiance.

An arrest was made after officers recovered some of the stolen items from the residence. Cooke said that in a separate unrelated incident, The Bistro restaurant in the Navajo Nation Shopping Center was also burglarized overnight and an arrest was made in that incident.




Possible hit-and-run in Sheep Springs

ALBUQUERQUE - The FBI and Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety are asking the public for information regarding the death of a woman whose body was found on U.S. 491 in Sheep Springs, N.M., on March 5, according to a news release from the Albuquerque FBI.

The woman, whose identity is being withheld until next of kin are notified, may have been struck by a vehicle that left the scene. The body was found at approximately 7 a.m., about a quarter-mile north of the Sheep Springs store, on the Navajo Nation.

Authorities want to talk to witnesses or anyone who saw anything unusual in the area between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.

Information: Albuquerque FBI at 505-889-1300 (24 hours) or send a tip online at https://tips.fbi.gov.


Woodsprings man sentenced to 14 years in prison

PHOENIX – On March 4, Harry McCabe Sr., 52, of Woodsprings, Ariz., was sentenced Nov. 29, 2012 to 13 years in prison after he was found guilty by one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and two counts of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, according to news release from the U.S. attorney's office.

The evidence at trial showed that the defendant assaulted the victim by firing a .22 caliber rifle at him, causing a bullet wound to the head resulting in serious bodily injury.

At sentencing, McCabe faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and an additional three years imprisonment for the assault charges, ordering the three-year sentence to run consecutive to the defendant's 10 year sentence of imprisonment.

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