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Hitchhiker near Cortez gets three years for stabbing driver

Victim hospitalized for several days

Travis Clitso, 25, of Pinon, Arizona, has been sentenced in federal court 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 pleaded guilty Oct. 8 and was sentenced Jan. 22. Court records indicate Clitso is 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 news release said. Clitso fled, but police officers found and arrested him that day.

Emergency medical personnel flew the driver 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.



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