Mescalero Man and Repeat Offender, Dennett Jerome Chee, Sentenced to 9 Years for 2022 Assault

A federal judge has handed down a 9-year prison sentence to a Mescalero man after he pleaded guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury in a case stemming from a brutal attack on the Mescalero Apache reservation in 2022. Upon his release from prison, Dennett Jerome Chee, 37, a member of the Mescalero Apache Tribe, will be subject to three years of supervised release.

This is not Mr. Chee's first run in with the law or for violence. On May 6th, 2011 a federal court in Las Cruces, Dennett Jerome Chee, 24, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation, was sentenced to a 27-month term of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for his assault with dangerous weapons conviction. Chee also was ordered to pay $29,399.97 in restitution to the medical providers who provided medical care to the victim of his assault.

In the more recent case just held, and per a DOJ release, on May 20, 2022, John Doe was at a friend’s house on the Mescalero Apache reservation. Chee and another man arrived at the house later, and upon entering, they attacked John Doe, repeatedly striking him in the face and back. At some point during the assault, John Doe lost consciousness, and the attack ceased.

Upon regaining consciousness, John Doe walked back home, where his mother then called the police. He was taken via ambulance to the Lincoln County Medical Center and later transferred to the University Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, due to significant injuries. Doe remained hospitalized for nearly a week, recovering from injuries that included a bilateral orbital wall fracture, hemorrhaging in the left maxillary sinus and left ethmoid air cells, and a compression fracture of the T12 vertebrae.

Following the assault, police encountered Chee and the other man walking together along the road away from the residence. Chee was carrying a wooden object resembling a baseball bat. Upon making contact, the officer chased Chee, eventually apprehending him and taking him into custody.

U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, made the announcement that Chee was sentenced this time around to  a 9-year prison sentence, will be subject to three years of supervised release and there is no parole in the federal system.

The FBI Albuquerque Field Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs investigated this case. Assistant United States Attorney Eliot Neal is prosecuted the case.

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