Navajo Man from Shiprock Sentenced to Prison for Federal Involuntary Manslaughter and Assault Conviction

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of New Mexico
14 August 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE – Travis Arthur Mustache, 35, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who resides in Shiprock, N.M., was sentenced this morning in Albuquerque, N.M., to 37 months in prison for his conviction on federal involuntary manslaughter and assault charges. He will be on supervised release for three years after completing his prison sentence.

Mustache was arrested in March 2017, on an indictment charging him with involuntary manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily injury. According to the indictment, Mustache killed one victim and seriously injured another while driving his vehicle under the influence of alcohol on the Navajo Indian Reservation in San Juan County, N.M., on June 15, 2016.

On April 11, 2017, Mustache pled guilty to the indictment and admitted killing one victim and assaulting the second victim, causing her to sustain serious bodily injury, by driving recklessly while under the influence of alcohol. Mustache acknowledged that the alcohol rendered him incapable of exercising clear judgment and a steady hand in operating the vehicle. According to plea agreement, the second victim suffered from rib fractures, a liver laceration, bruised lung tissue and scalp bruises as the result of the assault.

This case was investigated by the Farmington office of the FBI, the Shiprock office of the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety and the New Mexico State Police and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Mease.