Quay County Sun - Serving the High Plains

A second man implicated in a home invasion in October in rural Tucumcari where an elderly man was beaten was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison in Tucumcari district court.

Setheria Kolyer, 19, of Tucumcari pleaded no contest to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, felony larceny, tampering with evidence and distribution of marijuana.

Charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, conspiracy to commit larceny, criminal damage to property, possession of drug paraphernalia and two counts of interference with communications were dismissed by plea agreement between District Judge Albert Mitchell and District Attorney Tim Rose.

During a sentencing hearing July 25, Mitchell sentenced Kolyer a total of 21 years in prison, of which six years will be suspended in favor of five years of supervised probation, according to documents filed in the 10th Judicial Circuit.

Kolyer must provide a DNA sample and pay a $100 fee to the New Mexico Department of Corrections to file the sample into the DNA Index System. He also must pay restitution and court fees. He also was ordered to make a $2,000 donation to the Quay County 4-H Club in honor of the victim.

Mitchell also ordered Kolyer to complete a high-school diploma equivalent by end of his first year or probation and later obtain a two-year college degree.

Except for brief answers to the judge’s questions, Kolyer declined to comment during his sentencing.

Another Tucumcari man, Riley Severeid, 18, was sentenced in June to five years in prison and other conditions after agreeing to a plea agreement in exchange for cooperating with law enforcement with the case.

Jamal Jones, 19, and a 17-year-old juvenile, both from the Albuquerque area, also await trail for their alleged roles in the home invasion.

Quay County sheriff’s deputies arrested Severeid and Kolyer in late October in connection with the home invasion earlier in the month. Robbers wearing masks and gloves tied up and beat Lawrence Szaloy, in his upper 70s at the time, at gunpoint at his East Maple Avenue home in an unincorporated area of Tucumcari. They cut his phone line, and his residence was ransacked.

The robbers took a small safe, a large sum of money, two pistols, a shotgun, cellphone and a Chevrolet Silverado extended cab pickup truck.

Szaloy was taken to Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari for treatment of bleeding head injuries and released.

Jones and the juvenile were taken into custody weeks later.

Joseph Szaloy, son of the victim, gave a victim impact statement. Referring to his father’s condition, he said “the man we have known before is no longer with us” and urged the sentence include a donation to a charity in his name. Mitchell said he had noted Lawrence Szaloy’s deterioration since the attack.

Kolyer’s attorney, Brett Phelps of Las Vegas, New Mexico, couldn’t be reached for comment.