Stephen Garcia Receives 30-Year Sentence For Attempting To Ignite Drilling Site's Storage Tank

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) -- A Greeley man who tried to use a roadside emergency flare to ignite highly flammable and explosive gases at a Weld County drilling site in 2019 will spend the next three decades behind bars.

Stephen Garcia, 57, was sentenced to 30 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on Thursday in Weld County District Court.

A worker at the site located at 10611 Highway 257 called 911 the morning of June 8 to report a suspicious person on the property. Law enforcement personnel from the Weld County Sheriff's Office, Colorado State Patrol and Greeley Police Department were dispatched to the scene.

A Weld County deputy was the first to arrive, according a press release from the Weld County District Attorney's Office. She found Garcia near several storage tanks. He was attempting to ignite fumes from one tank containing methanol. Garcia told the deputy she needed to leave him alone while he intended to blow up the tank.

More officers arrived and Garcia was shot with non-lethal bean bag rounds. But he ignored officers' commands and persisted in his attempts.

Garcia was subsequently shot with live rounds which struck him in the shoulder and jaw. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment and arrested afterward.

According to firefighters who also responded to the incident, Garcia's success in igniting the fumes could have created an explosion with a blast radius as large as a quarter mile.

"The defendant was high on methamphetamine during this incident," said Deputy District Attorney Chris Jewkes, the prosecutor in the case. "While I sympathize with people who struggle with mental health issues, our job is to protect the community from people who put others at serious risk. The officers knew the risk they were going into when they approached the defendant as he attempted to light the methanol tank. These men and women are more than a badge. They are people, they have families, and they put themselves in danger each day to protect our community. It truly is a miracle that everyone walked away from what could have been a deadly incident."

A jury acquitted Garcia of attempted murder charges last June. But it did find him guilty of three counts of 1st Degree Assault on a Peace Officer, plus one count each of Attempted Use of an Incendiary Device and Reckless Endangerment.

Garcia received the minimum mandatory sentence. He faced up to 96 years in prison.