Hernández man accused of lighting house on fire with family inside

Apr. 22—A Hernández man is accused of setting fire to his family's home early Monday while his mother and several children were inside.

Eric Jason Rivera, 38, faces four counts of attempted murder, three counts of child abuse and one count of negligent arson, according to a criminal complaint filed in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court.

Police accused Rivera of pouring lighter fluid on the carpet inside the home and lighting it on fire in the doorway of a room where his mother and his three children had been sleeping, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Rivera was arrested by state police and is being held without bond on the charges. An arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.

Officers were dispatched to the residence on North Prince Drive in Hernández around 5 a.m. Monday. The affidavit states Rivera declined to be interviewed by police without an attorney, but his mother told police her son had started the fire and said, "I'm going to burn the whole house down, and everyone is going to die."

His mother told police she was in a bedroom with Rivera's three children — ages 2, 4 and 8 — when he entered the room at 2 a.m. He said he was angry because a window was open and he was cold, the affidavit states.

Rivera's mother said she "attempted to calm Eric down and told him to go to the living room where he could eat pizza," the affidavit states, adding he complied but "later returned to the bedroom and began to pour lighter fluid on the floor in the doorway to [her] bedroom."

She told police a ceiling fan was extinguishing the fire, but Rivera kept pouring lighter fluid on it in order to make it bigger, according to the affidavit. She said he later put clothes over the burn marks on the carpet to hide it from police.

The dispatch center received an emergency call regarding "threats of homicide being made," the affidavit states, and when state police arrived at the home, they found Rivera outside while his mother and three children were inside the home. Rivera's mother was crying and "made statements that everything was not OK," police wrote.

Police noted burn marks on the carpet in the doorway to Rivera's mother's room, writing in the affidavit the woman and three children had "no easy egress out of the residence to safety" from the apparent site of the fire.

Rivera had custody of his three children since their mother was incarcerated, Rivera's mother told police. She described Rivera to police as "a good father who loves his children" and said she believed "he regretted his actions," according to the affidavit.

Rivera has faced felony charges in the past related to alleged threats or acts of violence, all of which were eventually dismissed by prosecutors.

Police charged Rivera with attempted depraved mind murder more than a decade ago; it was dismissed by prosecutors for lack of evidence.

Another man told police in 2012 he had stopped by Rivera's house in Hernández late at night in an attempt to get a ride into town but said as he was leaving the property, Rivera shot at him six times, hitting him in the thigh, according to a criminal complaint in the case. Rivera was indicted by a grand jury on an aggravated battery charge in the case, but prosecutors dismissed that charge as well due to "insufficient evidence," according to a dismissal order.

In a 2014 case, a man told police Rivera had threatened him and others with a knife in a LoanMax store in Española, accusing employees of stealing his sunglasses. A witness corroborated the allegations and asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, according to a criminal complaint. Rivera faced an aggravated assault charge, but prosecutors dismissed the case with the option to bring the charges before a grand jury.

In January 2023, a criminal complaint filed against Rivera states he threatened to shoot a man and his family after the man said Rivera owed him money. Rivera faced a misdemeanor charge of making threats over the telephone, but the charge was dismissed for more investigation, prosecutors wrote in a dismissal order.