Julianna Rosynelle Venego, 29, a member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, N.M., was sentenced this morning in federal court in Las Cruces, N.M., for her assault conviction. Venego was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Venego was arrested on July 11, 2013, on a criminal complaint alleging that she drove a vehicle while a defendant in a separate case, Rufus Juan Lester, 23, also a member of the Mescalero Apache Nation, fired multiple shots at a residence located on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in the early hours of Nov. 24, 2012. Venego was subsequently indicted on Oct. 16, 2013, and charged with two-counts of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm.
Venego pled guilty to the indictment on July 8, 2014. In entering the guilty plea, Venego admitted that on Nov. 24, 2012, she drove Lester past a residence in Mescalero where Lester used two rifles to shoot at a residence which at the time was occupied by two adults and six children.
Lester was indicted in a separate case and charged with eight counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of discharging firearms during and in relation to crimes of violence. On May 16, 2014, Lester pled guilty to the eight counts in the indictment charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon. Lester admitted riding in the passenger seat of the vehicle while Venego drove past a residence in Mescalero. As the vehicle went past the residence, Lester used two rifles to shoot at the residence which was occupied by two adults and six children at the time of the shooting, and that he assaulted each of the occupants when he shot at the residence. Lester was sentenced on Nov. 20, 2014, to 66 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
This case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.
Information from Department of Justice