04/21/2008
Former Umatilla Resident Sentenced in Federal Court on Charges of Committing Sexual Abuse of a Minor
48 year Old Defendant Sentenced for Sexual Abuse of a Minor
Portland, Ore. – Wilson Tso Nez, age 49, former resident of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pendleton, Oregon, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown, to serve 78 months in prison following his plea of guilty to the crime of sexual abuse of a minor. Defendant is an enrolled member of the Navajo Indian Tribe. On November 9, 2007, Nez pled guilty to sexually abusing his step-daughter, while residing on the Umatilla Indian reservation with the victim’s family between December 2000 and March 2001. The minor victim was 13 years of age at the time of the offense. Following disclosures by the minor victim to a counsellor, and later to law enforcement, Nez was arrested in April of 2006 where he resided on the Navajo Indian Reservation, near Low Mountain Arizona.
The case was jointly investigated by the Umatilla Tribal Police Department and the Pendleton, Oregon and Low Mountain, Arizona Offices of the FBI. The prosecution of the case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Billy J. Williams.
