Police Blotter: Yah-Ta-Hey man charged in rape of 12-year-old
LOS ANGELES
A Yah-Ta-Hey, New Mexico, man is facing a possible 30 years in prison after being charged last week in federal district court in Albuquerque with sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl several times in 2018. Ryan Kee Jones, 25, is currently being held in custody by the U. S. Marshall’s Office.
According to court records, the alleged victim in this case, identified only as Jane Doe, was referred to the Navajo Department of Social Services, who then referred the case to the FBI on Aug. 21, 2018. Doe was interviewed on Sept. 11 by experts on interviewing children in these kinds of cases. She said she was in her bedroom the first time it happened. Jones came in and raped her despite her telling him to stop, she said.
Over the next few months, she said Jones sexually assaulted her several more times in various locations. After each incident, she said, Jones told her not to tell anyone.
After being arrested on Sept. 9, Jones was interviewed by FBI agents and admitted that he had had sex with the girl five or six times in 2018. He said the first time it happened, he had been taking meth and drinking alcohol earlier in the day. He said the first time he and Doe had sex, he forced her but all the other times were consensual.
He said the last time the two had sex, one of his friends came in and saw them and told him to stop because it wasn’t right. The two stopped and it never happened again, he said.
Red Valley man faces 8 years in prison
LOS ANGELES – A Red Valley, Arizona, man faces a possible eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty last week in a federal district court in Albuquerque to involuntary manslaughter. Maroquez Clah, 28, was arrested this past February in connection with a car accident that occurred on Aug. 30, 2019, in which one person, who was identified in court records as John Doe, was killed.
In the indictment filed against him, federal prosecutors argued that he drove his car recklessly and was under the influence of alcohol. After pleading not guilty in his arraignment in February, he asked to be allowed to go back home and stay with his family, which included a five-year-old daughter, until his trial.
The judge denied the request and placed him in a halfway house in Albuquerque, agreeing to allow a review of his request for house arrest if he creates no problems at the halfway house.
Five weeks later he made the same request and the judge rejected it again, saying he was a danger to his community and there was a lack of supervision to make sure he did not violate his conditions of not drinking or driving. His public defender, Emily Carey, filed an appeal to that decision on April 6, denying that his criminal posed any threat to the community if he were to be allowed to return to his family home.
She pointed out that he did not have an extensive criminal record with only a DUI in 2018 where he was sentenced in tribal court to probation during which he complied to all conditions and met with his probation officer as required. She also pointed out that because of the virus restrictions, he had not been allowed to see his daughter and that he was needed at home to deal with health problems of other family members.
Clah was still staying at the halfway house when he agreed to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
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