A Chinle man, Jared Josh John, age 32, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after a harrowing incident that involved kidnapping and assault. The sentence, which includes an additional five years of supervised release, was handed down by United States District Judge Diane J. Humetewa on September 11, as reported by the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona. The conviction came after a jury trial in May of last year, where John was found guilty of multiple charges, one of which was "Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury".
In a disturbing turn of events back in July 2020, while the victim was resting in his car during a road trip through the Navajo Nation, John together with his co-defendant, broke into the vehicle, and subsequently kidnapped him. The kidnapping escalated violently as John slit the victim's throat three times, abandoning him in the desert to die. The gruesome attempt on the man's life was thwarted by the victim's own survival instincts, who managed to stop his own bleeding with a makeshift tourniquet and then find help. The conviction of the second person involved in the crime, Everickk Matthew Begay, 55, also of Chinle, came earlier when Begay pleaded guilty in March of this year to Kidnapping, Robbery, and Assault with Intent to Commit a Felony, and he received a sentence of 97 months followed by supervised release.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in collaboration with the Navajo Division of Public Safety, spearheaded the inquiry leading to these convictions. The legal proceedings were overseen by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alanna R. Kennedy and Tracy Van Buskirk of Phoenix. A full account of the resolution including the details of the sentencing can be found on the Department of Justice's website.
