ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Mar. 8, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A Moab man was sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse offenses committed in New Mexico.
Pedro Lee Benally was sentenced in federal court to 23 years in prison, according to a Friday online FBI press release.
Benally, 23, of Moab, and an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, had pled guilty to two counts of abusive sexual contact on Nov. 2, 2023, according to the statement by Alexander M.M. Uballez, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office.
According to court documents, between April 1, 2022, and November 29, 2022, Benally engaged in sexual contact on multiple occasions with “Jane Doe,” a child who had not attained the age of 12 years.
The incidents occurred at the house of the child’s grandmother, in Shiprock, and Benally told the girl not to tell anyone about his abusive conduct. Upon his release from prison, Benally will be subject to 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
The Farmington Resident Agency of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Navajo Nation Department of Investigation and Department of Criminal Investigations.
