Fires under investigation
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, Jan. 15, 2009
Tribal police investigated two Jan. 7 fires, both of which are suspected arson cases.
The first occurred about 12:14 a.m. on State Route 64 near Cameron, Ariz., when police received a report that a trailer and a wooden shed next to it were on fire.
By the time fire trucks arrived on the scene both structures were completely engulfed in flames. Police said it was being treated as an arson because the trailer was unoccupied and had no electricity or any known source that could cause the fire.
The second fire was reported at 5:35 a.m. about a quarter mile west of the three water tanks in Tuba City.
Again, by the time fire fighters arrived on the scene, the structure - in this case a hogan under construction - was completed engulfed in flames. The hogan was owned by Dorathy Adson, 55, of Tuba City.
Witnesses at the scene said they suspected a neighbor was responsible for that fire but when police interviewed him, he denied it.
Police said both fires are still under investigation.
Alcohol involved in fatal accident
A high-speed race on an icy road resulted in the death of a Nageezi, N.M., man, identified as Gilbert Becenti, 24.
Police said the incident occurred just after midnight on Dec. 27 about 3.3 miles east of the Pueblo Pintado Chapter House.
Witnesses said they saw a Ford Explorer chasing a white sedan east on Navajo Route 9. Both vehicles were traveling at a high rate of speed, passing multiple cars on a road that was described as icy in spots.
The driver of the Explorer, identified as Garan Lopez, 25, of Nageezi, eventually rear-ended the white sedan while both were attempting to pass other cars. He then lost control of his vehicle in the westbound lane, drifted back into the eastbound lane and then rolled over several times on the shoulder of the road.
Lopez and a passenger, Alan Jim, no age or address listed, were wearing seat belts but were injured and were transported to a nearby hospital. A second passenger, Simon Jim, no age or address listed, was ejected. He was later flown to Albuquerque for treatment.
Gilbert Becenti, the third passenger, was not wearing a seatbelt and died of head injuries at the scene.
Police said the white sedan continued about a quarter of a mile further down the road and was involved in a crash of its own when it rolled into an embankment. The driver then fled on foot and is still being sought.
Police also said that they discovered alcoholic beverages at both crash sites.
The case is still under investigation and police said charges are pending against Lopez.
Fight ends in stabbing
Shoshain Tsosie, 21, of Farmington, was stabbed in Shiprock in the early morning hours of Jan. 3 after he got in a fight with local residents.
Police first became aware of the stabbing when staff at Northern Navajo Medical Center reported Tsosie being treated there. When police arrived and tried to interview him, they found him unable to make a statement because of blood loss. He had two knife wounds to his right neck area.
Friends of his at the hospital gave police a description of the men responsible for the stabbing as well as the name of one of them, Orlando Yazzie, 19, of Shiprock. They said Tsosie got into a fight with Yazzie and two others "after an exchange of words."
When police contacted Yazzie, he identified the other two as Pierce Benally, 24, of Shiprock, and a 17-year-old juvenile. Yazzie told police that Tsosie provoked the fight.
DWI leads to fatal accident
A drunken driver was killed Jan. 5 when he drove head-on into a truck near Tonalea, Ariz.
According to police, this was a case of "a speeding and reckless driver . . . who was intoxicated crossing the highway centerline and colliding head-on with a truck."
The driver of the speeding sedan, identified as Jerome Martinez, 24, of Tonalea, was killed. His two passengers - Harrison Begay, 33, of Tonalea, and Geraldeson Cook, 19, of Tuba City, received lesser injuries but were transported to the Tuba City hospital.
The identity of the driver of the truck was not released.
TC restaurant burgled
Tuba City police are investigating a burglary that occurred Jan. 5 at Basha's Supermarket when someone gained entry to the Sze Chuan Restaurant, which is part of the supermarket, sometime during the early morning hours and broke into a lockbox.
Some $550 was taken. There are no suspects.
Phony bill passed at gas station
The manager of the Chevron station in Window Rock reported to police receiving a counterfeit $10 bill sometime during the day on Dec. 30.
He discovered the bill the next day but could not say when it came in or who passed it, police said.
Drunk & disorderly on New Year's Eve
A confrontation just after midnight on New Year's Eve resulted in a lot of yelling and threats and the arrest of two Fort Defiance men on disorderly conduct charges.
Police said they got a report of a disturbance between people living on Navajo Route 112. They learned that a group of unknown suspects had stopped in front of the McArthur home and began yelling threats at Tyrone McArthur, 19, and Bryon McArthur, 20. The two reported yelling back and threatening their harassers with metal pipes.
By the time police arrived at the scene, the suspects had fled but police said they suspected they were members of a local gang.
Police arrested the two McArthur men for being drunk and disorderly. No injuries were reported.
Man arrested in stabbing
Police are investigating a stabbing that occurred near the Nenahnezad Chapter House on Dec. 29.
The victim was identified as Macah Sims, no age given, of Nenahnezad, who was founding laying face down at a residence near the chapter house. Members of the household said they found the victim on their doorstep after he had been stabbed at a nearby residence.
An investigation revealed that the stabbing occurred at a New Year's celebration. It started as a verbal altercation and then got out of control.
The alleged suspect in this case, Saniago Sims, 44, of Nenahnezad, was taken into custody.
Gas leak sparks evacuation
The Tuba City police department had to be evacuated on the afternoon of Dec. 29 because of a propane gas leak in the area.
Police said workers for Ironhorse Inc. were trying to move a large propane tank when it was dropped, causing damage to its underside. There was still some propane left in the tank and it began leaking.
When the smell of gas reached the nearby police station, authorities decided not to take any chances and ordered personnel to stay away from the building until the cleanup was done.
Axe attack suspect sought
Police are looking for a Kaibeto, Ariz., man in connection with an assault using an axe.
It began with a phone call to police at 11:53 p.m. on Jan. 4 reporting that Julius Crank, 40, of Kaibeto, had been hit with an axe and that the suspect - Leander Carter, 44 - had fled the scene.
When police arrived, they discovered Crank with a deep laceration on his lips and forehead. He was taken to the Tuba City hospital for treatment.
Fugitive arrested
A routine roadblock at St. Michaels, Ariz., intended mainly to net drunk drivers, ended on Dec. 30 with the arrest of a man wanted by police in New Mexico on attempted murder charges.
According to police, it began when Lacey A. Smith, 18, of Church Rock, N.M., was stopped at the roadblock and was unable to show a valid driver's license. Police then began questioning her about her identity and the identity of her passenger.
Suspecting that they had been given false names, the officers checked and discovered that the passenger, identified as Wacey Armando Smith, 22, of Church Rock, was the subject of a nationwide warrant.
Besides attempted murder, he was also accused of tampering with evidence and influencing a witness.
Police arrested Wacey Smith and the driver, Lacey Smith. The next day, President Joe Shirley Jr. signed extradition papers, allowing Wacey Smith to be turned over to New Mexico officials for return to Bernalillo County where he will face the charges.
Shooter gets 40-plus years
TUCSON - James Paul Antonio, 27, of the Tohono O'odham Nation, was sentenced Dec. 23 to 41.5 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release.
Antonio was found guilty by a federal jury in two different trials - on Feb. 14 for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and on May 15 for six charges: assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with serious bodily injury, possession of a machine gun during a crime of violence, possession of ammunition by a prohibited possessor, possession of an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of a machine gun.
On Aug. 5, 2006, Antonio was arrested for shooting another gang member, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. He was charged with four counts and was tried last February. He was acquitted of three counts and convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon.
Three months later, while on pretrial release for the first incident, Antonio fired a burst from his machine gun through the front window of a residence, striking an adult female and narrowly missing two additional women and two children, including members of his own family.
Antonio left the scene but was located four days later at one of his girlfriend's houses in Tucson, where he was taken into custody. In his backpack beside the bed in which he was sleeping was the 9mm submachine gun along with 27 rounds of ammunition, almost two pounds of marijuana, and a police scanner.
Antonio was tried for the machine gun/aggravated assault and convicted May 15 of all six counts stemming from that incident. Antonio subsequently admitted to a supervised release violation from a third case, and he received an additional 11-month consecutive sentence.
The judge also ordered that Antonio's federal sentence be consecutive to the state prison sentence for a marijuana conviction he is currently serving.