Staff report

A tip on social media last week helped lead authorities to identify and arrest a man who threatened Wimberley Volunteer firefighters with a sword in November. 

According to Hays County Lt. Jeri Skrocki, Austin Police arrested Stanley Miles Goodyear, 49, on Jan. 8. Goodyear was arrested on an “out of county felony”, according to Travis County Jail records. He is being held in the Travis County Jail on $25,000 bond.

Skrocki said the original incident took place on Nov. 10. In the incident, a man threatened two firefighters at the Wimberley Fire Station with what was described as a sword.

Roughly a month later, Skrocki said the case had gone “stale” with no workable leads and that the sheriff’s office planned to close the case.

Instead, Skrocki said she chose to “give it one more push” on social media on Jan. 7.

At that point the HCSO was given a tip by a citizen identifying the suspect. The HCSO then released the identity of Goodyear, and within 24 hours, he was arrested.

“I would like to thank our Facebook followers. I never would have occurred to me that we would run something so old on social media [and get results],” Skrocki said.