FBI arrests all five adults from the New Mexico compound on gun charges

Wednesday, all of the child abuse charges were dropped against the five adults who were arrested at a remote compound in New Mexico. The judge actually scolded the District Attorney’s office for failing to meet a mandatory 10-day deadline for presenting evidence. That left three of the five adults set to be freed while two were still facing charges in the kidnapping and death of a toddler whose body was found buried on the compound. Today, there has been another development in this case. KRWG reports the FBI has arrested all five of the adults on gun charges:

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The defendants, Jany Leveille, 35, a Haitian national illegally present in the United States, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40, Hujrah Wahhaj, 37, Subhanah Wahhaj, 35, and Lucas Morton, 40, are charged in a criminal complaint that was filed earlier today in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. The criminal complaint charges Jany Leveille with being an alien unlawfully in possession of firearms and ammunition in the District of New Mexico from Nov. 2017 through Aug. 2018. The criminal complaint charges the other four defendants with aiding and abetting Leveille in committing the offense, and with conspiring with Leveille to commit the offense.

According to the criminal complaint, on Aug. 3, 2018, law enforcement officers of the Taos County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants at the Amalia Compound, where the five defendants were residing, and allegedly seized at least eleven firearms and a large quantity of ammunition. The complaint alleges that the firearms were transported from Georgia and/or Alabama to New Mexico in Leveille’s vehicle.

If convicted, each of the five could face up to 10 years in prison on the gun charge and five years on the conspiracy charge (though it’s possible those could be concurrent). Leveille would also face deportation after her sentence if she is convicted.

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KOB4 adds that the Taos, NM DA also plans to take the case to the grand jury next month with the intention of filing new charges related to child abuse. So it sounds as if these defendants could be facing a long time behind bars. The 11 children found at the compound, reportedly malnourished and poorly cared for, have been in state care since the raid.

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