Mescalero Apache Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting a Federal Officer

ALBUQUERQUE – Ellis Arkie Sago, 23, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., pled guilty this afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., to assaulting a federal officer.

The BIA arrested Sago on Feb. 2018, on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a federal officer.  According to the criminal complaint, Sago was arrested on tribal charges after he assaulted a BIA officer.  Sago committed the assault on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in Otero County, N.M., on Sept. 9, 2017, by kicking the officer in the legs while the officer was arresting Sago.

Sago subsequently was indicted on April 18, 2018, and was charged with assaulting a federal officer in Otero County on Sept. 9, 2017.

During today’s proceedings, Sago pled guilty to the indictment and admitted that on Sept. 9, 2017, he assaulted a BIA officer by kicking the officer in the legs.  At sentencing, Sago faces a maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison.  A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.