DILKON, Ariz. — An Arizona woman charged in a 2021 child abuse case in which a young child was thrown from a moving vehicle has been sentenced to more than four years in federal prison following her previous guilty plea.
On Nov. 21, Melody Gwen Nez of Dilkon, Arizona, was sentenced to 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Arizona.
Nez, 32, pleaded guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury in the case.
The charges against Nez involve a 5-year-old child. Prosecutors say the child was in the care of Nez for several weeks in the summer of 2021, during which time the child suffered abuse at the hands of Nez.
The release said on Aug. 19, 2021 the culmination of the abuse occurred when, “Nez threw the child from a moving vehicle, seriously injuring the child.”
The abuse happened on the Navajo Nation, where Nez is an enrolled member.
The case against Nez was investigated by the FBI and the Navajo Nation Division of Public Safety, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alanna Kennedy and Alexander Samuels.
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