WASHINGTON, March 30 -- The U.S. Department of Justice's U.S. Attorney's office for XXXXXX (insert district) issued the following press release:
ALBUQUERQUE - A Zuni manhas been charged with kidnapping after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he tricked into getting in his car by offering her a ride home.
According to court documents, on March 23, 2026, Barton Rico Cooeyate, 41, an enrolled member of the Zuni Pueblo, allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted Jane Doe after offering her a ride home in Zuni, New Mexico, only to transport her to an abandoned rural residence 15 miles away. The victim escaped from Cooeyate's vehicle and hid until a Zuni Pueblo Tribal Ranger conducted an unrelated DWI stop on Cooeyate. As a result of the as...