Crimes against Children 7-12-12

Albuquerque, NM
Earlier today in Las Cruces federal court, Wyatt Michael Lee Pebeashy, 25, was sentenced to a 168-month term of imprisonment for his conviction for aggravated sexual abuse of a minor.

Pebeashy, a member and resident of the Mescalero Apache Nation, will serve a 10-year term of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence. He also will be required to register as a sex offender.

U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales said that Pebeashy was sentenced for sexually abusing a child on October 3, 2008, at a residence located within the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

According to court filings, the victim’s mother contacted law enforcement authorities on October 3, 2008, and reported her belief that Pebeashy was sexually assaulting her child. Investigation of the report was impeded because the victim was not able to have any meaningful communication with investigators due to her young age. Although Pebeashy denied assaulting the victim during interviews with authorities, in July 2009, he agreed to provide a DNA sample to authorities. In November 2010, the results of DNA analysis revealed that a blood stain found on the victim’s shirt was Pebeashy’s blood. In June 2011, after being confronted with the DNA evidence, Pebeashy admitted sexually assaulting the victim.

Denver, CO
Jeffrey Allan Mueller, age 39, of Douglas County, Colorado, pled guilty earlier this week before U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez to five counts of production of child pornography and one count of transportation of child pornography, as well as an asset forfeiture allegation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced. Mueller, who appeared at the change of plea hearing in custody, was remanded immediately following the hearing.

At the time of Mueller’s arrest, agents, and officers rescued a minor child Mueller was using to produce child pornography. The child has since been relocated and is in a safe place.

According to publicly available facts, including information in the indictment, between September 2006 and December 2009, Mueller used a minor with the intent that the minor engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography and then transported that child pornography across state and international lines. The indictment alleges that Mueller produced over 50 images of child pornography on five separate occasions. Producing child pornography includes taking still photographs or video of children where the images depict those children in sexually explicit poses or activity.