County taking former firefighter to court
Ex-volunteer accused of making threats, appearing at response scene
Santa Fe County is seeking an injunction against a former volunteer firefighter who is accused of making “angry and aggressive” threats against firefighters and other county employees after being suspended, and also showing up uninvited to fire stations and at least one department response scene.
According to court documents, Jonathan Michael Hart, 30, was a volunteer firefighter with the county fire department, serving in the Tesuque district from August 2017 to October 2017, when he was suspended. In March, the fire department terminated his volunteer service.
The legal action, filed in June, doesn’t spell out the reasons for Hart’s suspension, though it does say, “During his tenure as a probationary volunteer he insistently sought access to the fire station, a privilege not given to probationary volunteers.”
Prior to being terminated, Hart left an angry message for Santa Fe County fire Chief David Sperling, according to an affidavit written by Sperling. Hart also threatened to bring criminal charges and ethics charges against the chief, the document says. The chief said Hart later became “angry and aggressive” in a phone call to Sperling’s executive assistant.
Several volunteer firefighters wrote affidavits expressing concern about and, in some cases, fear of Hart.
District Judge Francis Mathew in July granted the county a temporary restraining order against Hart. The request for a permanent injunction is pending. No hearing has been set.
Reached for comment Wednesday, Hart threatened to sue The New Mexican because a reporter didn’t have his “consent” to write a story about the case.
In a handwritten July 31 motion in the case, Hart called the restraining order harassment. “I have not physically harmed any of the parties in any way or blocked/prevented any … party’s rights, liberties or doing their job,” he wrote.
Since his suspension, Hart has peppered county government with public records requests, three of which prompted concern among fire department officials and one that apparently caused worry in the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Among the information Hart sought were detailed maps of fire department operations, all radio frequencies and tones used by the department and information about Santa Fe County sheriff ’s deputies, including their email addresses and their car numbers.
State Homeland Security officials later told the county that giving Hart radio frequencies and tones created a security risk.
The complaint says Hart was the subject of a restraining order request filed in June by his uncle, who said Hart threatened to shoot or stab him.
About six weeks after he was suspended as a volunteer, Hart, who had been listening to calls from dispatchers to county firefighters, showed up to the scene of downed power lines on Bishops Lodge Road. He tried to engage in conversations with firefighters and a deputy at the scene.
“I found Mr. Hart’s presence at the scene a matter of concern for his own safety and the safety of others,” a volunteer firefighter said in an affidavit. “His presence was a distraction from my total focus on traffic control and ensuring citizen safety.”
Nathan Segura, a captain with the Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office, wrote deputies have been called to Hart’s house in Tesuque on multiple occasions.