ALBUQUERQUE – Travis Clitso, 25, of Pinon, Arizona, was sentenced in federal court on Jan. 22 to three years and one month in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian Country.
According to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque, Clitso had pleaded guilty on Oct. 8. Court records indicated Clitso was a member of the Navajo Nation.
Under the plea agreement, he admitted to hitchhiking near Cortez, on Feb. 6, 2019, and a driver agreed to give him a ride. The driver and Clitso later stopped at a gas station in Shiprock, New Mexico, where Clitso pulled out a knife and stabbed the driver in the throat, the press release said. Clitso fled, but police officers found and arrested him that day.
Emergency medical personnel flew him to Albuquerque for emergency treatment, and he spent several days in the hospital for his injuries.
Clitso said he was tired and did not want to get out of the victim’s vehicle, the Farmington Daily Times reported. Clitso said he stabbed the driver out of frustration,
The driver was not identified, although his birth year was listed as 1949.
The Farmington office of the FBI and the Navajo Nation Department of Public Safety investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Aliberti prosecuted the case.