The Department of Justice brought charges against numerous suspects after a surge to solve unsolved violent crimes in “Indian Country.”
The FBI surged 64 personnel into “Indian Country” through field offices in Albuquerque, Denver, Detroit, Jackson, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle, and Salt Lake City, according to a press release.
This year alone, FBI officials made 1,123 arrests, charged 1,260 suspects, recovered 304 weapons, and identified or found 458 child victims in these regions.
“One of the biggest problems tribal communities face is the vast amount of land to account for, requiring significant resources to crush violent crime,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in the release. “Operation Not Forgotten is a major step forward in giving these communities the justice that they deserve.”
Officials said this operation was the “longest and most intense” national FBI deployment to Indian Country in history. Agents arrested and charged suspects in crimes like unsolved murders, assaults, sexual abuse, and kidnappings.
Zachariah Shorty, of the Navajo Nation, was the victim of an unsolved murder in New Mexico in 2020, according to the release. Through the operation, officials charged 31-year-old Austin Begay with first-degree murder, and charged 38-year-old Jaymes Fage and 40-year-old Joshua Watkins with crimes for concealing the murder.
A woman, referred to only as Jane Doe, was strangled and struck in the face with a firearm. Officials charged 43-year-old Renaldo Descheny with assault with a dangerous weapon and using and carrying a firearm in relation to a violent crime. The FBI in Albuquerque investigated the case, and Descheny will remain in custody until trial.
Officers from the Navajo Nation Police Department responded to a stabbing at a Shiprock residence in northwest New Mexico. When they arrived, they found the victim dead, with a neck wound. Police arrested 25-year-old Armondo Paul in the case. He is facing charges for second-degree murder, and he will stay in custody until trial.
Keanu Lee, 33, was arrested and charged with three counts of aggravated sex abuse, one count of sex abuse, one count of kidnapping, and one count of assault causing serious bodily injury. FBI-Albuquerque investigated the case.
The DOJ also helped secure numerous convictions, according to the release.
Marvin Albert Wauneka, 40, was convicted and sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison, after causing a high-speed drunk driving crash on the Navajo Nation Reservation – on the Arizona-New Mexico Border. The crash killed two passengers and seriously injured another.
Antoine Scott, 28, was convicted of assault causing serious bodily injury and prohibited firearm possession. In June 2023, he approached a truck on the Warm Springs Reservation in Central Oregon – and began punching the passenger through the window, causing a head injury requiring stitches. Scott was sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in federal prison, plus 3 years of supervised release.
To solve these cases, the FBI worked alongside the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal law enforcement agencies, according to the release. Specifically, 36 personnel from the BIA Missing and Murdered Unit assisted with more than 330 investigations, providing technical support such as ground-penetrating radar, underwater cameras, and sonar searches.
“These dedicated efforts by FBI agents, together with the BIA and our tribal law enforcement partners, have solved crimes, protected victims of violence, and brought much needed safety and security to communities in Indian Country,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in the release.
Violent crime has plagued residents of Indian Country for years. At the beginning of FY 2025, the FBI’s Indian Country Program had nearly 4,300 open investigations, including more than 900 death investigations, 500 domestic violence and adult sex abuse investigations, and 1,000 child abuse investigations.
Texas has only three federally recognized Indian reservations, with just a few thousand members total. Still, reservation crime often hits close to home, like in neighboring Oklahoma.
Choctaw Nation member Emily Morgan, 23, was gunned down in her car alongside her non-native friend Totinika Elix, 24, near McAlester in 2016, as the Cherokee Phoenix reported. To this day, Morgan’s murder case remains unsolved.
This is just one of many unsolved murders and missing persons cases plaguing the state, according to KOCO. Oklahoma is one of America’s worst states for missing and murdered American Indians.
The recent mission, under Operation Not Forgotten, renews efforts President Donald Trump began in his first term under an executive order “Establishing the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives.”
The operation has supported investigations in more than 760 cases over the last 3 years, resulting in the arrest of 249 suspects, charging of 235, and convictions of 109, according to the release. Officials provided services to nearly 2,000 victims and their family members.
The DOJ Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Regional Outreach Program, launched in 2023, also places attorneys and community coordinators in U.S. attorneys’ offices across America to prevent and respond to these cases.
“We will never forget the crime victims whose cases remain unsolved,” Bondi said in the release. “We will continue our pursuit until justice is served.”