11/18/2023
Stay Strapped.
🚨Ok… BOLO - he is being released at 5pm on 11/20. Just got the call from Chaves County.
Another Update: At 10:46pm Chavez County Deputy called to say they received another complaint about him just a few miles away from where they made him move from at 9pm - so they went ahead and arrested him on my complaint. So he is in jail until Monday!
Update: Due to all your calls to the State Police and Sheriff’s Office - contact was made at approx 9:05pm by the Chavez County Sheriff’s Department. They made him move on from the side of the road and he headed towards Hope. The Chavez County Deputy called me and asked if I wanted to press charges for what happened earlier. He said that was the only way they could get him off the streets. I told the Deputy, YES because I want this man to get the help he needs so he doesn’t hurt himself or others.
They let him go without arrest or citation. So my friends that is where we are. We all did our part.
On the plus side, keep sharing this man’s picture. He definitely won’t be able to step foot on this mountain without people recognizing his face. It is truly amazing to see how quickly we all got the word out. That is what keeps us strong as a community. Keep looking out for one another and stay safe out there.
I hesitated whether or not I should post this but I feel like as a community, we need to share these things to prevent any incidents from happening in our little mountain community.
Two months ago - this man was seen in Mayhill. He went in two stores in Mayhill and made people in both stores feel very uncomfortable. To the point that one of my store employees asked the man to leave.
Fast forward to today. I was unaware this was the same man until after everything transpired tonight.
I was driving to Mayhill from Artesia and right before Runyan, this man was standing in the middle of the lane and flagged me down. His white Ford Ranger (older model) was on the side of the road. I started to go around him but he moved toward the middle yellow lines. I stopped and as I was rolling my window down he flung himself toward my window and yelled, “Do you want to be cut into little pieces?”. I stopped my window from rolling down, rolled it up and drove off.
I stopped and told Camille (at Runyan) what happened and to go up and make sure Tom was going to be ok at the stand. Camille called me back at the store and said several people had stopped and told them he was acting odd and flipping off vehicles that were driving by and the guy drove off headed up the mountain.
The guy left that area and drove to the National Forest sign on the Chaves/Otero County line and starting walking around with a 14 inch knife. One of my staff called her husband and after twenty minutes when the vehicle didn’t pass the store, people starting stopping at the store saying a man was acting weird on the side of the road and slashing a knife around in the air.
My staff sent her husband to observe and keep an eye on the guy while awaiting the Sheriff’s Office to arrive. They witnessed this man “humping” the pavement barely off the road. Literally laying on the ground. Walking around slashing imaginary things in the air and yelling.
The Sheriff’s Office arrived and questioned the man. He had Arkansas tags from 2006 and an Oklahoma drivers license. They of course had to tell him to move on (but did make sure he turned around back towards Artesia instead of coming up here). So they did everything they could. After all no crime was committed.
So… here is the reason for this post:
1. Has anyone else had any dealing with this man?
2. If you do - please be cautious. It is extremely obvious this man has a serious mental instability.
