Peterson Tsinnijinnie, 52, is also facing charges of causing great bodily harm by vehicle and reckless driving.
The charges stem from an accident that occurred about 9:18 p.m. on Mendoza Road on the west side of Gallup.
When police arrived at the scene, they discovered that Tsinnijinnie had been involved in a rollover. But witnesses also told them that another man, who was not at the scene, was seen running from the vehicle after the accident.
That man was later discovered to be Kevin Charley, 23, of Lupton, Ariz., who told police that Tsinnijinnie had promised to give him a ride back home but the two got into an argument when Tsinnijinnie offered him $20 for oral sex and he refused.
Charley said when Tsinnijinnie refused to let him out of the car, he grabbed the wheel and that is what caused the accident.
Tsinnijinnie's version was that Charley had offered to sell him some marijuana when the argument began and he forced Charley to leave the vehicle. He had just let him off when he got a text message, which he looked at and then lost control oft he vehicle.
Because of the witnesses who saw Charley leave the car and because the only text message on Tsinnijinnie's cell phone was an hour before the crash, police believed Charley and arrested Tsinnijinnie.
Still no arrests in stabbing incident
WINDOW ROCK - Navajo police are investigating a stabbing that occurred in Torreon on June 3.
According to police, Vanowa Toledo, 24, of Torreon was stabbed five times.
Police have listed Edison Alonzo Jr., 20, of Torreon as a person of interest in the case but no arrests have been made nor have any details been released as to how or why the stabbing took place.
All Arizona county sheriffs convene for first time in history
WINDOW ROCK - The sheriffs of all 15 counties in Arizona met in Chinle Wednesday for the first time in the county sheriff association's history.
Apache County Sheriff Joseph Dedman Jr. said the quarterly meetings are usually held in cities like Tucson, Phoenix, Prescott or Flagstaff but this will be the first time it has been held on the Navajo Reservation.
And the reason why it is being held in Chinle is simple – Dedman is the president of the association this year and he has decided to give the other sheriffs in the state a chance to see what the Navajo Reservation is like.
It's a regular meeting so the agenda is loaded with updates on various projects being undertaken by the association as well as possible presentations by groups like the U.S. Marshall's Office.
The association was formed in part because of a desire by sheriffs in the state to see how their counterparts in other counties were handling various problems that were common to all of them.
Shiprock man gets 10 years for child sex abuse
WINDOW ROCK - Delbert Begaye, 56, of Shiprock was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release by a federal district court judge in Albuquerque. Begaye will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.
Begaye was arrested on a criminal complaint charging him with child sex abuse offenses in Feb. 2012, and has been in federal custody since that time. Begaye pleaded guilty in Sept. 2012 to a felony information charging him with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12.
As to the first count of the information, Begaye's plea agreement states that between March 1989 and Oct. 1989, Begaye engaged in sexual acts with a child who was approximately 10 years of age on approximately six occasions.
Begaye admitted that, on each of the six occasions, he forcibly grabbed and carried the child victim into her home where he sexually assaulted her. The child victim did not disclose the assaults because Begaye threatened to physically harm the victim's sibling. The assaults occurred in Hogback.
As to the second count, Begaye's plea agreement states that between Jan. 1991 and Dec. 1995, he engaged in sexual acts with a child who had not attained the age of 12. Begaye admitted that he sexually assaulted the child victim on multiple occasions during this five year period.
Begaye's criminal conduct first came to light in Feb. 2012, when a 32-year-old Navajo woman reported to the FBI and Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety that Begaye had sexually assaulted her in 1989, when she was a child. Subsequent investigation revealed that Begaye also had sexually assaulted a second child victim referred to in the second count of the information.
Man pleads guilty to sexual abuse
WINDOW ROCK - In another case heard on Tuesday in the federal district court in Albuquerque, Nathan R. Platero, 41, who resides in Tohajiilee, N.M. was sentenced to 10 years years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for his child sex abuse conviction. Platero will be required to register as a sex offender after he completes his prison sentence.
Platero was arrested in Jan. 2012, on child sex abuse charges. In Oct. 2012, Platero pleaded guilty to a felony information and admitted that, between Jan. 2005 through Dec. 2006, he engaged in and attempted to engage in sexual contact with a child victim who had attained the age of 12 but had not attained the age of 16.
Platero further admitted that the sexual contact consisted of the intentional touching of the child victim's genitals through her clothing. Court records reflect that the offense occurred in Platero's residence in Tohajiillee.