Navajo man pleads guilty to abusive sexual contact

SALT LAKE CITY — A member of the Navajo tribe pleaded guilty Wednesday to his part in a violent December assault.

Michael Whitehorse, 20, pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact for his role in a Dec. 2 beating that prosecutors say Whitehorse committed with his mother, Cynthia Bitsuie, 40, and acquaintance, Johnson Joe, 42. The three were indicted in federal court on charges of aggravated sexual abuse and aggravated assault.

A superseding indictment was filed in Whitehorse's case Wednesday charging him with the single count of abusive sexual contact. He faces a maximum prison term of 10 years and up to $250,000 in fines.

In the plea agreement, Whitehorse said he touched the victim inappropriately while she was restrained. Prosecutors say the trio had been drinking heavily with the victim and a 17-year-old girl when the victim became upset that Bitsuie was allowing her children to drink.

The group left initially and then returned and held the woman down while they alternately punched, kicked and sexually assaulted her. According to prosecutors, at one point Bitsuie even went so far as to urge Whitehorse to rape the victim, but he did not.

The three defendants were ordered to remain in custody pending a resolution in their cases. The 17-year-old was not charged in the crime.

A judge ordered that Whitehorse undergo a psychosexual examination before the sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Aug. 26.

— Emiley Morgan