Uinta County Man Pleads Not Guilty To Threats To Shoot Neighbors, Blow Up Truck

A 62-year-old Robertson man pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of threatening to shoot his neighbors, beat them to death, and blow up their propane truck. The case escalated after an expletive-laced video posted on social media caught the attention of the FBI National Threat Center, which alerted the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 31.

Robert W. Vawdrey appeared before District Court Judge James Kaste on two felony counts of intimidating witnesses and two misdemeanor counts of violating a stalking order of protection. He faces a separate three-day trial starting July 14 on stalking and reckless endangerment charges from alleged actions against the same couple between July and October 2025. He initially pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness but was ruled mentally fit to stand trial.

In the video, Vawdrey names his neighbor—the wife of the couple—and says, “I will (expletive) shoot you in the head, I’m going to.” He also threatened to shoot her as she drove by his porch, saying it would be on TV. He claimed his neighbors were trying to take his property and had already changed his property line. “The reason that I am going to shoot them in the head is so everybody won’t have to go through this again,” he said. He also vowed to “blow up” the propane truck the husband drives, calling it “a bomb.”

When deputies arrested him on Jan. 31, they found a gray metal hollow-point slug for a .50-caliber air rifle in his pocket. While being transported, Vawdrey allegedly said that if he went to prison, he would “get out and hunt everyone down,” including deputies and their families.

At the time of his arrest, Vawdrey was out on bond for the stalking and reckless endangerment charges and also on bond for a probation revocation from a separate stalking case. Bond conditions prohibited him from violating any law.

Vawdrey has a prior federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm and served 15 months in prison. Each witness intimidation charge carries up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The misdemeanor violations carry up to six months in jail and a $750 fine each. He remains free on bond. His trial on the new charges is scheduled for Oct. 20, with a pretrial conference on Sept. 29.