Navajo man from Ojo Encino, New Mexico sentenced to life in federal prison for child sexual abuse

            ALBUQUERQUE – Francis Woody, 60, of Ojo Encino, N.M., was sentenced on May 27 in federal court in Albuquerque to life in prison for child sexual abuse in Indian Country.

            A jury convicted Woody on Aug. 23, 2019 of two counts of abusive sexual contactand one count of aggravated sexual abuse.  According to the evidence at trial and other public court records, Woody committed these offenses on the Navajo Nation in Sandoval County, New Mexico.  He sexually abused a child under the age of twelve between March 18, 2015 and Oct. 4, 2016.  Woody also abused another child under the age of twelve between May 1, 1999, and Nov. 30, 2002. 

            The Albuquerque office of the FBI investigated this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Raquel Ruiz-Velez and David P. Cowen prosecuted the case.