Man pleads guilty to assault charge

WINDOW ROCK, March 20, 2014

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ALBUQUERQUE -- Jayson Gustina, 24, of Sanostee, N.M., pleaded guilty Monday in federal district court in Albuquerque to a federal assault charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Gustina was arrested on Oct. 23, 2013, on a criminal complaint charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and aggravated sexual abuse. On Jan. 19, 2013, Gustina was indicted and charged with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and abusive sexual contact.

According to court filings, Gustina assaulted the victim, a 16-year-old Navajo girl, and attempted to rape her on Aug. 21, 2013, in Shiprock.

In entering his guilty plea, Gustina admitted assaulting the victim on Aug. 21, 2013. He also acknowledged that the victim suffered severe bruising, swelling, and a fractured cheekbone as a result of the assault.

Gustina has been in federal custody since his arrest and remains detained pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled. At sentencing, Gustina faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.



Police use spike strip to stop vehicle

Navajo police had to use a metal spike strip near Black Hat, N.M., Saturday to stop a Florida man who was refusing to stop despite being chased for several miles by a tribal police officer.

The officer saw the man about 6 a.m. going about 20 miles per hour on State Highway 264 causing a traffic problem. The officer chased him and the man refused to stop. Police had to put a strip down to blow his tires.

The man, Kit Chun Chau, 25, told the officer that he refused to stop because the police were Israelites and God told him not to stop.

Since he was a non-Indian he was turned over to the McKinley County Sheriff's office, who sent him to a Gallup hospital for a mental evaluation.

According to the sheriff's department, the man said he was on his way to Colorado to see snow and buy medical marijuana. The officer was able to contact the man's mother, who said he had a mental condition and had been off his medications for four or five months.

At the hospital, the man gave doctors there an account of him being part of the spirit world and being able to communicate with his girlfriend telepathically.

Doctors there on Saturday said they were calling mental health facilities in the state to see if he could be accepted for a mental evaluation.

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