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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A district attorney is indefinitely postponing plans to seek grand jury indictments against five adults detained in August on suspicion of child neglect at a ramshackle compound in northern New Mexico.
Toas-area District Attorney Donald Gallegos said Wednesday that plans to convene a grand jury this week were canceled in deference to federal prosecutors who are pursuing firearms and conspiracy charges against the extended family. Gallegos says the federal case should go forward first.
RELATED: Judge orders compound suspects remain in federal custody
Authorities found 11 children living in filth at the compound and later recovered the body of a severely disabled 3-year-old boy who they say was kidnapped by his father, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, in Georgia.
Charges of child abuse resulting in death were dropped against Wahhaj and wife Jany Leveille as federal authorities pursue separate charges.
RELATED: 5 residents of New Mexico compound face firearms charges