Peach Springs man sentenced for assaulting BIA officer

PHOENIX, Ariz. — On Feb. 14, Marcus BlueCloud Querta, 39, of Peach Springs, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow to 48 months in prison.

Querta previously pleaded guilty to assault on a federal officer and admitted to violating the terms of his supervised release in a separate case. Snow sentenced Querta to 37 months in prison for the assault and an additional 11 months for violating his supervised release.

On Jan. 12, the victim, a law enforcement officer with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and another police officer were trying to detain Querta while he was on the Havasupai Indian Reservation. Querta resisted arrest, kicked the victim, and bit the victim in the leg. At the time of the offense, Querta was on supervised release for another assault on a federal officer that he committed on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in 2016. Querta is an enrolled member of the Hualapai Tribe.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs conducted the investigation in this case.

Information provided by the U.S. Department of Justice