Man accused of threatening to burn mother-in-law

Vion R. Szpakowski, 57, of Holman — identified in some court records as Vion Fzpakowiski — was arrested Friday and booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center on one felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, as well as a misdemeanor charge for violating a restraining order.

New Mexico State Police responded to a Mora County home around 9 a.m. Friday and located Szpakowski on the property, where he also lives, though in a separate residence. He smelled of gasoline, according to the criminal complaint, and told police he was upset because he believed family members were attempting to steal his father’s life insurance fund.

The owner of the home, identified by police as Szpakowski’s mother-in-law, told police that Szpakowski had doused the outside of her home with gasoline, then threatened to burn her “and all of this forest,” according to the complaint. When the woman went inside the home, Szpakowski followed her, holding a container of gasoline and a lighter. Another family member poured water on the gasoline outside the house to reduce the threat of a fire.

Family members said that, following an incident where Szpakowski had fired a gun into a residence, they had a restraining order against Szpakowski that required him to remain 100 feet from them.

State Police responded to a call at the same property in late September after family members called police to say Szpakowski was harassing them. Police confronted Szpakowski about the incident and noted a strong smell of alcohol coming from his breath, according to a criminal complaint filed in Mora Magistrate Court. Szpakowski told police he’d been driving around the property listening to music, but refused to perform sobriety tests. He was arrested and charged with misdemeanor aggravated DWI, and misdemeanor harassment.

Two weeks prior, on Sept. 9, a property owner in Mora County called the Mora County Sheriff’s Office to report that Szpakowski had driven through the gate to their property and pointed a pistol at them.

Szpakowski was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor criminal trespass and misdemeanor criminal damage to property.

During a Sept. 17 hearing, Judge Cindy Garza granted Szpakowski a $5,000 unsecured bond, but placed him on house arrest.

Following the harassment arrest two weeks later, at a Sept. 28 hearing, Judge Garza set Szpakowski’s bond at $2,000 cash only. But at an Oct. 1 hearing, Judge Garza reduced the bond to $2,000 unsecured, and ordered that he not drink alcohol and that he wear a SCRAM device, a monitor that determines if someone has consumed alcohol.

A jury trial in this case is scheduled to begin March 26, 2021.

Szpakowski had been scheduled to appear in San Miguel Magistrate Court on Monday in the most recent case, but the hearing was canceled and the case was moved to Mora Magistrate Court. As of this writing, Szpakowski remained in custody at SMCDC, pending a Mora Magistrate judge setting conditions of release.