Man set on fire

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

Roy Barajas

GRANTS — Roy Barajas, 59, a registered sex offender at 510 San Jose Drive, was arrested by Grants Police in connection with him dousing another man, Emerson Sloan, with gasoline and lighting him on fire.

Barajas faces charges of assault with intent to commit a violent felony and aggravated battery with great bodily harm. He has a preliminary hearing in Cibola County Magistrate Court at 10 a.m., May 22,Magistrate Court Tina Jaramillo clerk said.

Barajas was placed in custody at the Cibola County Detention Center Tuesday, following his arrest, on a $20,000 secured bond and was still in custody Thursday afternoon.

Sloan was air evacuated to University of New Mexico hospital in Albuquerque and had two surgeries. Grants Police Lt. Maxine Spidle said she did not know what kind of surgeries Sloan had, but that he was in stable condition. Police said they had no further information about Sloan.

The hospital declined to confirm or deny that Sloan was admitted and had surgery citing patient privacy laws.

Shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday, police officers responded to a call from a woman stating a man was on fire, according to Magistrate Court records.

When officers arrived, they found medical personnel from Grants Fire and Rescue and Mt. Taylor Ambulance working on Sloan, who was found to have burns on his right side, right arm and clothing, some of which had been cut away so that emergency medical procedures could be performed by the fire and rescue and ambulance personnel, court records state.

Several witnesses told police that Barajas approached Sloan, who was laying on the ground next to a fence on Barajas's property. Barajas told Sloan to leave, but he did not comply. Barajas then doused Sloan with gasoline, took a hat off of Sloan, lit it on fire, and threw the hat on Sloan lighting him on fire, court records state.

Police found a red gas can on the driveway to the residence and a cigarette lighter in Barajas's pocket, court records state.

Failure to re-register
Barajas was arrested on June 7, 2005, by a Cibola County deputy sheriff, on an arrest warrant in connection with failure to re-register as a sex offender, according to court records.

Barajas was evicted from a residence in San Rafael when the owners of the residence from whom he was renting found out he was a sex offender, court records state.

Officers found him moving into the 510 San Jose residence in Grants after responding to a call of a possible break-in, court records state.

When officers found out Barajas was just moving in, but recognized him as a sex offender, they looked his registration up on the Internet and found he had not re-registered, as required by state law, court records state.

The charge of failure to register as a sex offender, a fourth degree felony, was dismissed by the Magistrate Court on Feb. 14, 2006, for failure to prosecute by the 13th Judicial District Attorney's office.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197, or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.