A Cortez man who tried to recruit a third party to assault two other people was sentenced Thursday to three years in a community corrections halfway house.
Hernando Tsosie, 42, pleaded guilty to attempted retaliation against a witness or victim. Tsosie tried to organize an assault against Skylar Maryboy and Harold Thompson, whom Tsosie allegedly assaulted when they interfered in another alleged attack by Tsosie on his ex-girlfriend, Mary Antez, at her campsite in 2017.
Tsosie also failed to register as a sex offender after an earlier conviction of sexual gratification after he masturbated while watching a minor in the bathroom at the Durango Welcome Center in 2017.
According to court records, Tsosie tried to deliver a letter on Sept. 14, 2021, to Larris Martin directing Martin to assault Maryboy and Thompson in retaliation for his arrest over the alleged assault.
On Aug. 28, 2017, Antez, Maryboy and Thompson were camping near 800 Tech Center Drive west of downtown Durango when the alleged dispute between Tsosie and the group occurred, according to court records.
Antez said Tsosie exited a tent and attacked her, punching her in the forehead, according to court documents. Later, Tsosie allegedly went to Maryboy’s campsite and stabbed him. Thompson said he was slashed across his palm while defending himself from Tsosie. Tsosie allegedly attacked Antez again by kicking and hitting her.
In a third purported attack that night, Tsosie later found Maryboy at Antez’s camp and stabbed him in the back of his left thigh. Maryboy said he saw Tsosie hit Antez with a branch, according to court records.
The next day, a warrant was issued for Tsosie’s arrest on suspicion of assault in the first degree, but that case was ultimately dismissed, Christian Champagne, 6th Judicial District Attorney, told The Durango Herald in 2018.
Tsosie still has two more sentencing hearings scheduled for Wednesday regarding his cases of invasion of privacy for sexual gratification and subsequent failure to register as a sex offender.
On May 31, 2017, Tsosie was arrested at the Durango Welcome Center for looking over a restroom stall while it was occupied by a 9-year-old girl, according to police and court documents.
The girl noticed Tsosie peeping into her stall from above and ran out of the restroom to her parents. Her father removed Tsosie from the bathroom and held him until law enforcement arrived. Tsosie was still masturbating as the father confronted him, court documents say.
Tsosie pleaded guilty to the sexual gratification charge in December 2017, but his case has been reopened, according to court records.
His conviction required him to register as a sex offender in Colorado annually and within five days of his sentencing, which he failed to do and which lead to another warrant for his arrest court documents say.
cburney@durangoherald.com
