Arizona medicine man sentenced to 31 years in prison for sexually abusing teen girl

An Arizona man was sentenced last week to 31 years in federal prison for sex crimes against a 17-year-old girl, authorities announced Tuesday.

McRenoisen Morales Sagina, 57, was also sentenced to 10 years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

Why was Arizona medicine man sentenced for sex crimes?

Sagina used his position as a medicine man in the Navajo Nation to threaten the teen girl with witchcraft and violence, prosecutors said.

The abuse took place between January and March 2025, according to evidence at trial.

In one incident, he pointed a shotgun at the girl to make her take her clothes off, prosecutors said.

Sagina is from St. Michaels, a census-designated place around 4 miles west of the Navajo Nation’s capital, Window Rock.

The sentencing came a month after a federal jury convicted him of three counts of sexual abuse without consent, two counts of abusive sexual contact by threat, and one count of sexual abuse by threat, prosecutors said.

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