Mugshot of Adrian Dale Tsinnijinnie. A federal court sentenced him on Aug. 7 to 23 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a minor. Photo by Dona Ana County Detention Center.
Court documents obtained by The Daily Muck report the man has known the girl all her life.
Adrian Dale Tsinnijinnie was stationed at Fort Riley on active duty when he began communicating with the young girl in Shiprock, New Mexico via Facebook Messenger in November 2020, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
What started out as a supportive and harmless conversation soon progressed to Tsinnijinnie pressuring “Jane Doe” (as she is referred to in court documents) to send him nude videos and photos. He told the victim that if she didn’t send him photos it would make him sad.
She eventually reluctantly sent explicit photos. He also sent the child nude videos and photos of himself.
In June 2021, while Tsinnijinnie was on leave, he engaged in sexual activities with the minor. Tsinnijinnie admits the actions and that he was aware the girl was younger than 18, according to a plea agreement obtained by The Daily Muck.
Both are enrolled members of the Navajo Nation. Navajo Police aided federal authorities in the investigation.
The former soldier was indicted on six offenses on Jan. 25, 2023. As part of a plea agreement, he pled guilty to the production of a “visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct” and “coercion and enticement of a minor.” The U.S. Attorney agreed not to prosecute the crimes that occurred in two sexual assaults on June 30 and July 1, 2021.
The girl reported the sexual assaults to her father on July 5, 2021, and the Navajo Police began an investigation.
Upon serving his sentence, Tsinnjinnie will have 10 years of supervised release and must register as a sex offender.
This case was pursued under the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide campaign combining federal, state, and local resources to locate, arrest and prosecute those who exploit children via the Internet and to identify and rescue their victims.
Federal authorities have prosecuted numerous such offenses since the project launched in 2006, including the recent conviction of a Navy psychologist who attempted to set up a sexual liaison with a 14-year-old girl only to discover the “girl” in the online chatroom was a federal investigator.
For more articles on this topic and other cases of fraud and corruption, read The Daily Muck.
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