YAKIMA, Wash. – A jury found a 43-year-old Wapato man guilty of sexually abusing three children over a nearly 15 year period, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
Acting U.S. Attorney Richard Barker announced the verdict of Jose Antonio Saldana’s trial on Monday. Saldana was found guilty of three counts of abusive sexual contact and of aggravated sexual abuse.
Court documents presented at the trial say that Saldana sexually abused three children under the age of 13 from August 1999 to January 2014. The abuse, as recounted by the victims, included touching them under their clothing and attempting to sexually abuse one of them.
“In this devastating case, Mr. Saldana abused multiple children for more than a decade on the Yakama Nation Reservation, even though he was not a tribal member himself,” said FBI Special Agent W. Mike Herrington. “The FBI is committed to enforcing federal laws to protect our tribal communities, and all our communities, from abuse and violence, especially the most vulnerable members of our society: our children.”
Saldana’s sentencing is set for June 16 in Yakima.
