A former White Mountain Apache police officer was arrested Wednesday in Canyon Day on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation stemming from a 15-count grand jury indictment alleging serial sexual abuse and kidnapping. Federal law enforcement authorities are now asking for any additional victims to come forward.
The Pinetop-Lakeside Resident Agency — often responsible for handling federal criminal matters throughout Indian Country in eastern Arizona — under the FBI’s Phoenix Division investigated in tandem with its main field office.
Arizona prosecutors are making their case against 42-year-old Karl Eugene Leslie in federal court. He is accused of sexually abusing and kidnapping victims while on-duty between December 2020 and September 2023.
His career lasted nearly two decades from 2007 until 2024.
The six-page indictment from last month lists three victims — all of whom are White Mountain Apache — including a minor. FBI Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Heith Janke thinks there’s others unaccounted for.
“We have to be careful, so I won’t be able to talk a lot of specifics outside of what’s in the actual indictment,” Janke told KJZZ. “What I can say is we believe there are more victims out there. There’s no preclusion of a victim coming forward — no matter how far it may have gone back.”
“We just need to know who they are and the facts behind that,” he added. “As far as reporting it, we would just ask that people immediately come forward while we are working through this investigation, through the prosecutive stages.”
Leslie has been assigned a defense attorney out of Flagstaff — Kathryn Mahady with Aspey, Watkins and Diesel law firm — who declined to comment. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to a life sentence and $250,000 fine.
In the meantime, authorities, including Janke, are encouraging anyone with information to contact the FBI by dialing 1-800-CALL-FBI or filling out a brief form on the agency’s website — even anonymously.
“We would prefer that we know who the victims are, so we can offer victim services and work with them throughout this investigation,” said Janke. “But if someone knows of a victim and wants to make that anonymous report, that can be done, too.”
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