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Smith Lake man sentenced to prison for child abuse

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ALBUQUERQUE – Roland Skeets, 27, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Smith Lake, N.M., was sentenced May 16 in federal court in Santa Fe, N.M., to 21 months in prison for his conviction on child abuse charges. Skeets will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence.

Skeets was arrested in Aug. 2017, on an indictment charging him with child abuse resulting in great bodily injury and child abuse.  According to the indictment, the crimes took place on March 25, 2016, on the Navajo Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.

On Dec. 6, 2017, Skeets pled guilty to an information charging him with assault resulting in substantial bodily injury. In entering the guilty plea, Skeets admitted that on March 25, 2016, he assaulted a four-year-old child by pushing the child to the ground and yanking him back up by the arm, which fractured the child’s clavicle. Skeets was intoxicated when he assaulted the child.

After assaulting the child, Skeets continued yelling, causing his girlfriend to flee with the injured child and other children to a neighbor’s house in order to call police.

Staff Reports