A 62-year-old Robertson man pleaded not guilty Thursday in Uinta County District Court to threatening to shoot and beat his neighbors, blow up a propane truck and in that process violate a protection order that involved those same people.
Robert W. Vawdrey appeared with his attorney Lora Cooper before District Court Judge James Kaste in the second of two cases that involve an ongoing dispute with a couple who are his neighbors in the rural unincorporated area, southeast of Evanston.
Kaste read Vawdrey the latest charges against him which include two counts of intimidating witnesses, both felonies, and two counts of violating a stalking order of protection which are misdemeanors.
Vawdrey told the judge that he understood the charges against him and the potential penalties that he faces. Kaste asked him how he would plead to the charges.
“Not guilty, Your Honor,” he said.
Both County Attorney Loretta Kallas and Cooper told the judge they estimated that a trial would take about three days.
“I’m going to set this for trial on Oct. 20, 2026 for three days,” Kaste said. He set a pretrial conference date for Sept. 29.
Vawdrey faces a separate three-day trial starting July 14 before Kaste on charges of stalking and reckless endangerment stemming from his alleged actions against the couple from July 27 and Oct. 21 of 2025. He initially pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency but was ruled mentally fit to face the charges.
The latest charges stem from an expletive-laced video posted on social media that caught the attention of the FBI National Threat Center who on Jan. 31 notified the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office.
“I Will … Shoot You”
In the video, Vawdrey leans into his camera with a cowboy hat on and then names the wife of the couple next door and says, “I will (expletive) shoot you in the head, I’m going to. I’m going to (expletive) shoot you.
“I hope you (names his neighbors) are watching this, and the neighborhood, and the sheriff’s department all of ‘em, everybody. You think you are going to come into my house and take my (expletive) property … I will (expletive) shoot you.”
In the video, the defendant also promised to be on his porch later in the month to shoot the wife as she drives by, stating that it would be on TV.
On Jan. 31, two deputies from the Uinta County Sheriff’s Office went to Vawdrey’s property on County Road 283 and made contact with him by phone.
He came out of the house and was searched for weapons. A gray metal hollow-point slug that fit a .50-caliber air rifle that deputies knew he had used in the past was in his pocket.
During transport, Vawdrey told the deputies that the sheriff’s office was helping his neighbors take his property, the affidavit states.
“He immediately began telling me that if he went to prison, he would get out and hunt everyone down,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit. “He would come into their house and beat them to death and everybody at the sheriff’s department also.”
Previous Court Encounters
Court records show that Vawdrey was out on bond for the stalking and reckless endangerment charge out of Uinta County District Court at the time of his Jan. 31 arrest. He also was on bond for a probation revocation for another three counts of stalking that he pleaded nolo contendere to on Sept. 11, 2025. He was given six months’ probation in that case.
Bond conditions prohibit Vawdrey from violating any law.
In addition to his other threats, the defendant charged that the neighbors have “six cameras” on his house and that as soon as he leaves his home the police are after him.
He alleged his neighbors have obtained an attorney to take his property.
“I’ve got these (expletive) neighbors that want my (expletive) property and they’ve already changed my property line, and I have to go to court again,” he said. “And the reason that I am going to shoot them in the head is so everybody won’t have to go through this again.”
Alleges He Was Framed
Vawdrey charged that because his neighbors knew he had a pellet gun they shot a hole in their freezer so they could “frame him.”
Court records show deputies found a hole in his neighbors’ freezer and a hole in their window stemming from an incident on Oct. 21, 2025 that led to Vawdrey’s arrest on the stalking and endangerment charges.
In his video, Vawdrey told those watching that even though his neighbors were “winning” and had taken his guns, he would get another one, and would break down the door of the neighbors' house, shoot them, and beat them to death “so the whole country can (expletive) see what is going on in our (expletive) country.”
He also vowed to shoot the propane truck that the husband drives down the road.
“I see that truck drive down the road, I am going to (expletive) blow it up,” he said. “It’s a bomb.”
In addition to his history in Uinta County courts, federal court records show that Vawdrey was sentenced in federal district court on Aug. 22, 2016, for being a felon in possession of a firearm and sent to prison for 15 months.
Both charges of intimidating a witness carry penalties of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The violation of stalking order of protection charges carry penalties of up to six months in jail and a $750 fine.
Vawdrey currently is free on a bond.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
