Arizona Man Sentenced to Over 32 Years for Third Offense of Aggravated Sexual Abuse

Harrison Shirley, 46, of Fort Defiance, Arizona, was sentenced on October 24, 2022, by United States District Judge Scott H. Rash to 390 months in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release.

Shirley, a member of the Navajo tribe, was indicted on one count of Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child in November 2020. One year later, Shirley pleaded guilty to Sexual Abuse, with a sentencing range of 20 to 40 years in prison.

On August 10, 2019, Shirley was living on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation outside of Tucson, Arizona, when he molested the then 7-year-old victim, while a visitor at a residence. Twenty years earlier, in May of 1999, while living on the Navajo Indian Reservation, then 23-year-old Shirley committed two sexual abuse crimes. He pleaded guilty to both offenses and was sentenced in August 2000 to concurrent terms of 97 months in prison.


Detectives from the Tohono O’odham Police Department, along with agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Micah Schmit, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.