Man from Arizona sentenced to three years in federal prison for assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian Country

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of New Mexico
26 January 2021

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Travis Clitso, 25, of Pinon, Arizona, was sentenced in federal court on Jan. 22 to three years and one month in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian Country.

Clitso previously plead guilty on Oct. 8, 2020. According to his plea agreement, Clitso, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, admitted to hitchhiking near Cortez, Colorado, on Feb. 6, 2019. A driver picked up Clitso and agreed to give him a ride. They later stopped at a gas station in Shiprock, New Mexico, where Clitso pulled out a knife and stabbed the driver in the throat. Clitso fled the scene, but police officers found and arrested him later the same day. The driver suffered a large cut to his throat. Emergency medical personnel flew him to Albuquerque for emergency treatment. He spent several days in the hospital for his injuries.

The Farmington office of the FBI and the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Aliberti prosecuted the case.

Press Release Number:
21-13