Source: Office of United States Attorneys
ALBUQUERQUE – A Mescalero man pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teen 20 years his junior.
According to court documents, Thomas Lee Chaffins, 35, an enrolled member of Mescalero Apache Tribe, admitted to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl on September 27, 2024, in Otero County, New Mexico, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation.
Chaffins will remain detained pending sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. At sentencing, Chaffins faces up to 15 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement today.
The Las Cruces Resident Agency of the FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Assistant United States Attorneys Matilda McCarthy Villalobos and Alyson Hehr are prosecuting the case.
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