A 55-year-old man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Reno in the beating death of his 4-year-old foster child. Benjamin Mahzanares of Owyhee on the Duck Valley reservation in northeastern Nevada near the Idaho border, was booked June 16 into the Washoe County Jail. He’s charged with the death of Brittney Balderas, who was found dead in her bedroom last August in Mahzanares’ home. The girl was placed in his custody by Tribal Social Services personnel. Mahzanares’ wife was a distant relative of the girl’s. The indictment concluded a 10-month investigation by the FBI and BIA.
