Court cases: Chinle man gets 16 years for sexual abuse of minor

LOS ANGELES

Elbert Leonard Cly, 45, of Chinle was sentenced to 16 years in prison for sexual abuse of a minor on Monday by a federal district court judge in Prescott.

The sentence is to be served consecutively with a 15-year sentence Cly is currently serving in a Texas prison for abuse of another minor.

Cly had entered a guilty plea for the federal crime last month.

Cly admitted in his federal plea agreement that between 2008 and 2010 he abused the victim while staying with the family at their home on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation.

Years later, the victim came forward after news stories came out about his conviction for abuse of the victim in Texas. The federal investigation began after Cly began serving time for the Texas crime.

After the indictment in September of 2018, he was taken into federal custody and transported to Prescott.

He admitted in his plea agreement that at the time of the incident for which he was charged in federal court that the victim was a female under the age of 12.

Once he finishes serving his time for both crimes, he is to be placed on the sexual offender list and be under supervised probation for the rest of his life.

Bread Springs man sentenced for 2nd-degree murder

A Bread Springs man who pleaded guilty in February to killing the mother of his child has been given a 20-year sentence in federal district court in Albuquerque last week.

Troy Livingston, 21, was arrested in April 2019 for first-degree murder.

He later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and had been facing a possible sentence of life in prison. Once released, he is to serve five years of supervised probation.

According to court records, Livingston’s mother called Navajo Police on April 6, 2019, reporting a domestic dispute between her son and his girlfriend, T.L., 20. She later told police she was home when Livingston and his girlfriend came home that day.

She said she could see that the two had been arguing and there was a tension between them.

After they had been home a few minutes, she heard a cry coming from the bedroom and when she entered the room, she said she saw her son on top of T.L. with his hand clinched in a fist raised.

She said Livingston told her to leave and she went to another part of the house. She continued to hear crying and screams coming from the bedroom and when she went in later, she said she saw T.L. in a fetal position on the ground with her arms protecting her head.

She said she was told again to leave and she went outside. She said she could hear screams, thumping and banging coming from inside the house.

She said her son then locked the door. After things quieted down she said she went back into the house.

She said she heard wheezing from just inside the bedroom. She told police she did not know who was wheezing.

About 30 minutes later, Navajo Police arrived and knocked on the door. When no one answered, one of the police officers looked through a window and saw blood on the floor. At about the same time, Livingston’s mother opened the door and police went inside.

Officers immediately saw a large quantity of blood between the bedroom and bathroom. They went into the bedroom and saw T.L. lying on the floor covered in blood and appearing to be badly beaten.

When asked who did this to her, she said, “Troy did this to me.”

They found Livingston lying on his bed next to his 2-year-old child who appeared to be unharmed.

An ambulance was called but T.L. died from her injuries a short time later.

Later, Livingston waived his rights and told police, “I just got mad and took it too far, way too far.”

He later said, “I just can’t believe I killed her.”

He said he got mad at her when she admitted having a relationship with one of his friends.

He said he hit her with a flashlight and his foot.

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