Navajo Man from Two Grey Hills Pleads Guilty to Federal Assault Charge

ALBUQUERQUE—This morning, Travis Cohoe, 43, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Two Grey Hills, New Mexico, pled guilty to a federal assault charge under a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Cohoe will be sentenced to a prison term of a year and a day. Cohoe remains on conditions of release pending his sentencing hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.

Cohoe was indicted on June 7, 2011, and was charged with (1) assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and (2) assault with a dangerous weapon. According to the indictment, Cohoe used an automobile to assault a man on April 13, 2010.

This morning, Cohoe pled guilty to count one of the indictment, the assault resulting in serious bodily injury charge. In his plea agreement, Cohoe admitted that on April 13, 2010, he ran over a man with his vehicle. Cohoe stated that, while he was drinking with the victim at Bennett’s Peak, which is within the Navajo Indian Reservation, the two men began to argue and, during the course of the argument, Cohoe ran over the victim with his vehicle. The victim suffered a broken femur, a broken wrist, broken facial bones, and various abrasions as a result of the assault.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, count two of the indictment will be dismissed after Cohoe is sentenced.

The case was investigated by the Farmington Office of the FBI and the Shiprock Division of the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack E. Burkhead.