Non-Indian Man from Albuquerque Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Federally Commissioned Tribal Officer

ALBUQUERQUE – Daniel A. Mendoza, 20, a non-Indian man from Albuquerque, N.M., pled guilty today in federal court to assaulting a federal officer. 

Mendoza was arrested on Nov. 22, 2016, and was charged by criminal complaint with assaulting an officer of the Pueblo of Isleta Tribal Police Department, who is commissioned as a Special Law Enforcement Officer by the BIA’s Office of Justice Services.  According to the complaint, Mendoza assaulted the officer by running his vehicle into the officer’s vehicle while attempting to evade arrest.  Mendoza committed the offense on Sept. 22, 2016, on the Isleta Pueblo in Bernalillo County, N.M.

Mendoza was subsequently indicted on Dec. 20, 2016, and charged with assault on a federal officer with a deadly and dangerous weapon, a vehicle, on Sept. 22, 2016, in Bernalillo County.

During today’s proceedings, Mendoza pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on Sept. 22, 2016, in order to avoid arrest, he backed his truck into an Isleta Pueblo Police patrol vehicle that was being operated by an Isleta Pueblo Police Sergeant who was commissioned as a Special Law Enforcement Officer by the BIA.  Mendoza further admitted that he then intentionally drove his truck forward and reversed a second time at a high rate of speed into the Isleta Pueblo Police Sergeant’s patrol vehicle. 

At sentencing, Mendoza faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.  Mendoza remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Pueblo of Isleta Tribal Police Department and the Northern Pueblos Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle T. Nayback.