Man sought in Shiprock attacks surrenders

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Phil Stake
Staff writer

SHIPROCK — A man charged with sexually assaulting three women — two under age 18 — has surrendered.

Leyandrew Joe, 33, surrendered in Shiprock Sunday after Navajo Police and FBI Agents received several tips from citizens about Joe’s whereabouts, according to FBI spokesman Steve Marshall. Several news sources published a description of Joe, and a description of the charges against him, this weekend.

“Police received numerous calls as a result of newspaper stories,” Marshall wrote in an e-mail.

Marshall said Joe was arraigned in federal court Monday; his preliminary hearing is scheduled Wednesday.

The criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque April 29 shows Joe faces three counts of aggravated sexual abuse, a federal crime that carries no maximum prison sentence.

It states that Joe allegedly attacked the first victim, a 32-year-old woman, April 8 about 8 a.m. The woman was at her office in Shiprock, cleaning a back room and preparing for the start of the workday, when she heard someone come in the door.

She greeted Joe, who asked to see her boss. She told him her boss was not in yet, after which Joe quickly moved close to the woman. She told investigators that his entering her personal space frightened her, more so because he was “smirking.”

As Joe approached, the woman realized he meant to assault her, and she ran; she almost made it through the front door before Joe “dragged” her back inside. The woman told investigators he placed her in a headlock, that she tried to plead with him, wrestled against him until they both hit the floor and took a large file cabinet down with them. Joe told her “I don’t know what I’m doing,” as he stood up to leave.

The woman waited a few moments and then followed and took a description of Joe’s car, as well as the license plate number, which she gave to police dispatchers a few moments later.

The second victim is 16. The time and location of the assault are not given in the criminal complaint.

The girl’s parents brought her to police April 8, and she reported a similar attack the same day. She told investigators that she was working outside, in her family’s corral, when a man pulled up in a blue minivan. The van was later found to be registered to Joe’s mother. The girl said she assumed the man was there to see her father or her uncle, and she told him they were not home but would be back later.

Joe pulled away as if he was leaving. The girl had started back toward the house when Joe pulled up again, this time asking if she wanted to buy any DVDs. She told him she did not, and walked inside the house and closed the door, thinking Joe had left for good.

A few moments later, while seated at the computer, the woman saw Joe had walked into her house. She said he grabbed her and placed her in a headlock, attempting to cut off her air supply. She screamed and scratched at him, before using the spurs still on her boots to kick Joe in the shins. Joe let go, and the girl ran outside and hid. She told investigators she waited until she saw him leave before she came out of hiding. Investigators later found markings of a struggle on the girl’s neck and chest.

A third victim, age 17, came forward April 9, reporting that she, too, had been assaulted April 8. The third victim lives near Sheep Springs, about 50 miles from the first victim. She told investigators that she had just got home from school when she heard a knock at the door. At the door was Joe, again purporting he was there to sell DVDs. The girl declined, and Joe left. A few minutes later Joe had returned, this time knocking on the back door. She agreed to buy a movie so Joe would go away.

She closed the door to go to her bedroom and get enough money to pay for a DVD. Joe had entered behind her, and rushed toward the girl as she was leaving her bedroom with the money. She said Joe grabbed her arms, not saying anything, and forced her to the ground. From this she managed to get away.

But Joe caught up to her in the hallway, forced her to the floor and touched the girl’s breasts before trying to remove her pants and his own. The girl continued screaming and kicking. She said Joe suddenly stopped, stood up and told her not to say anything. Then he left as quickly as he had entered.

Strangely, Joe is also accused of committing a residential burglary about seven miles southeast of Shiprock, the same day at about 1:15 p.m. A male resident told investigators the burglar had destroyed the front door and ransacked his mother’s room. The only thing he found missing, however, were a few of his mother’s work shirts, which have her employer’s name emblazoned on them.

Investigators later found the shirts in Joe’s blue minivan, after it had been abandoned near Sheep Springs. There were “a lot of clothes lying on the floor ... the clothes were mostly women’s undergarments ... there were a lot of empty liquor containers that lay about the vehicle also,” the complaint reads.