January 11, 2026 – PHOENIX, Ariz. – A White Mountain Apache Tribal Police officer was arrested Wednesday in Canyon Day on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, after being charged in a federal indictment with sexual abuse and kidnapping.

Image by Ray Shrewsberry • Ray_Shrewsberry from Pixabay 

Karl Eugene Leslie, 42, of Whiteriver, Arizona, is charged in a 15-count indictment, returned December 23, 2025, with Aggravated Sexual Abuse, Kidnapping (including one count of Kidnapping-Victim Under 18), Sexual Abuse through Fear, Sexual Abuse through Coercion, and Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law.

Leslie was an active law enforcement officer with the White Mountain Apache Tribal Police Department on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation from April 2007 through June 2024. The indictment alleges that while working as an on-duty law enforcement officer, Leslie sexually abused three victims on dates ranging from Dec. 1, 2020, through Sept. 25, 2023. The indictment alleges that Leslie forcibly raped and kidnapped two of the three victims, one of whom was a minor, and that Leslie twice engaged in sexual acts with a third victim by threatening her and placing her in fear. Each victim is a member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

The FBI’s Phoenix Field Office believes there could be additional victims and is asking anyone with information and/or any potential victims to call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submit the information via this seeking victim page: www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/victim-services/seeking-victim-information/seeking-victim-information-in-karl-leslie-investigation.

A conviction for Aggravated Sexual Abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual Abuse through Fear, Sexual Abuse through Coercion, and Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law all carry a maximum sentence of up to life imprisonment and up to a $250,000 fine. A conviction for Kidnapping-Victim Under 18 carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years.

The FBI Phoenix Pinetop-Lakeside office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dimitra H. Sampson (Flagstaff) and Lindsay L. Short (Phoenix), District of Arizona, are handling the prosecution.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

CASE NUMBER: CR-2025-08232-PCT-DGC

RELEASE NUMBER: 2026-003_Leslie

For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit: www.justice.gov/usao/az

Source: DOJ Release