ALBUQUERQUE – Steven Archuleta, 26, and his sister, Cheryl Shemayme-Archuleta, 32, both members and residents of Picuris Pueblo, N.M., pled guilty Jan. 6, 2017, in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to assault and firearms charges. Under the terms of their plea agreements, Archuleta will be sentenced within the range of 84 to 156 months in prison, and Shemayme-Archuleta faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years of imprisonment.
Archuleta was arrested on July 21, 2016, on a criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a non-Indian man and a non-Indian woman with a dangerous weapon and using a firearm during a crime of violence on July 17, 2016, in Indian Country in Taos County, N.M. According to the complaint, on July 17, 2016, Archuleta shot at the victims from his vehicle, striking the male victim in the leg, groin and back.
Archuleta was subsequently charged on Aug. 10, 2016, in a four-count indictment with assaulting each of the two victims with a dangerous weapon, assaulting the male victim and causing him serious bodily injury, and discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. The indictment charged Shemayme-Archuleta with aiding and abetting Archuleta in committing the four crimes. According to the indictment, the defendants committed the crimes on July 17, 2016, in Taos Pueblo.
On Jan. 6, 2017, Archuleta pled guilty to a felony information charging him with assault resulting in serious bodily injury and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. In entering the guilty plea, Archuleta admitted that on July 17, 2016, he fired four rounds at the victims’ vehicle, and acknowledged that the male victim was struck by shrapnel in addition to sustaining a gunshot to the leg. Archuleta also acknowledged that Shemayme-Archuleta drove the vehicle he was in during the shooting. Archuleta remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.
Shemayme-Archuleta also entered a guilty plea on Jan. 6, 2017, to a felony information charging her with aiding and abetting the possession of a firearm during a crime of violence. In entering the guilty plea, Shemayme-Archuleta admitted that on July 17, 2016, she aided and abetted Archuleta when he shot at the victims’ vehicle by picking up the firearm while knowing that the firearm would be used to assault the victims, and driving Archuleta when he committed the assault. Shemayme-Archuleta remains in custody pending a sentencing hearing which has yet to be scheduled.
This case was investigated by the Northern Pueblos Agency of the BIA’s Office of Justice Services and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Adams.