ALBUQUERQUE—This afternoon, United States District Judge James O. Browning
sentenced Irvin Bitsilly, 73, to a five-year term of imprisonment to be followed by a five-year
term of supervised release based on his conviction for sexual abuse. Bitsilly also will be required
to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. At the conclusion of today's sentencing
hearing, Bitsilly was remanded into the custody of the United States Marshals Service to begin
serving his prison sentence.
United States Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Bitsilly, an enrolled member of the
Navajo Nation who resides in Tohatchi, New Mexico, was arrested on October 1, 2009 based on
a criminal complaint alleging that he sexually abused two minors. On October 21, 2009, a
federal grand jury returned a two-count indictment charging Bitsilly with (1) aggravated sexual
abuse with children and (2) sexual abuse. On October 29, 2010, Bitsilly entered a guilty plea to
count 2 of the indictment under a plea agreement with the United States Attorney's Office.
In his plea agreement, Bitsilly admitted that, between December 1, 2002 and March 30,
2003, he engaged in sexual intercourse with a child who was incapable of appraising the nature
of the sexual act and could not communicate an unwillingness to engage in the sexual act.
According to the criminal complaint, the child who was violated by Bitsilly in late 2002 or early
2003 was his stepdaughter, who is developmentally disabled. The complaint alleges that, during
a forensic interview in mid-July 2009, the stepdaughter disclosed that Bitsilly sexually abused
her when she was a child and a teenager. The stepdaughter also asserted that Bitsilly is the
biological father of her daughter (Bitsilly's step-granddaughter) who was born when she was
16. The complaint alleges that Bitsilly's unlawful sexual abuse of his stepdaughter came to
light in early July 2009 when the step-granddaughter, a child under the age of 12,
complained to her mother and grandmother that Bitsilly had sexually abused her by touching her
genitals.
Assistant United States Attorney Kyle T. Nayback prosecuted the case, which was
investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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