Las Cruces, New Mexico - Gerald Castillo, Jr., 30, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Ruidoso, New Mexico, was sentenced Monday afternoon in federal court in Las Cruces, to three years probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for assaulting a federal officer.

On Aug. 3, 2018, Castillo pled guilty to a misdemeanor information charging him with assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer.  Castillo admitted that on Feb. 24, 2018, he assaulted a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer by hitting the officer’s chest.  According to court documents, Castillo assaulted the officer while attempting to flee from law enforcement following a bar fight on the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Otero County, N.M.

This case was investigated by the Las Cruces office of the FBI and the Mescalero Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.