Wyoming News Briefs

Roundup nets 558 wild horses

WORLAND (WNE) — Through Tuesday evening, 558 wild horses in the Fifteen Mile Herd Management Area had been gathered with 261 shipped to other facilities for treatment or to be prepared for adoption.

The Bureau of Land Management scheduled the gather as part of the HMA’s management plan. 

According to a BLM press release, the gather operation is in line with the BLM’s commitment to maintaining healthy wild horses on healthy, productive public rangelands. 

The Fifteenmile HMA is located approximately 35 miles northwest of Worland, in Washakie, Big Horn and Park counties. Based on recent aerial surveys, the BLM estimates that the HMA’s population is approximately 700 horses, while the appropriate management level (AML) is 100–230 horses. 

The objective for the gather, from the BLM Worland Field Office, was to remove approximately 600 wild horses to return the population to the low range of the AML. 

Wild horses that are removed will be available for adoption to qualified applicants through the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program. Animals not adopted will be cared for in off-range pastures, where they retain their “wild” status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, according to the release.

Attempted murder case moves to district court

ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — Attempted first-degree murder and resisting arrest charges against Bradley Setzer have been bound over to district court.

Setzer, 39, was arrested Aug. 25 in Green River after he allegedly shot at his wife through their front door. He was also charged with resisting arrest after allegedly refusing to comply with police commands during a traffic stop.

A preliminary hearing was conducted Oct. 16 in Third Circuit Court of Sweetwater County. Judge Craig Jones ruled that the state provided enough evidence for the case to be bound over to district court.

Setzer made an initial appearance before Judge John Prokos on Aug. 28, where his bond was set at $900,000 cash or surety. He remains in custody at the Sweetwater County Detention Center.

Thrown candle suspected of breaking Gillette woman’s eye socket

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 36-year-old woman remains in Campbell County jail after allegedly throwing a large candle at her mother during an argument and breaking her eye socket.

Deanna Bruner has been charged with aggravated assault and battery in the case.

Police were called about 5 p.m. Oct. 17 when occupants of an apartment building found a 71-year-old woman covered in blood. The woman identified her daughter as the culprit, but didn’t know why other than that she must have said something to anger the younger woman, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The woman said she and her daughter had been drinking.

Officers found a significant amount of blood in the apartment, along with a candle about six inches in diameter with blood on it.

As police were investigating, Bruner returned to the apartment. She told police that as she and her mother were drinking that afternoon, her mother told her that she planned to move to Florida soon, which angered Bruner because she just arrived in Gillette from Kentucky to live with her mother.

Her mother backed into a coffee table and fell to the ground, and Bruner picked up the candle in the living room and threw it at her, according to court documents.

Bruner told police she was unsure if the candle actually struck her mother, but did say that it was when she saw a large amount of blood appear on her face.

At the emergency room, a doctor said the woman had a fractured left orbital socket.

Aggravated assault has a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Community College Commission leaves tuition unchanged

GILLETTE (WNE) — Tuition for Wyoming’s community colleges will remain the same during the next school year after a vote Thursday by the Wyoming Community College Commission, which met in Gillette.

The commission sets tuition at Wyoming’s seven community college districts. It passed a measure a year ago to consider tuition rates each October, and it set a goal that tuition equal 23 percent to 28 percent of total community college revenue each year.

A year ago, the commission voted to raise tuition by $5 per credit hour — up to 15 hours — this year. That additional cost (from $94 to $99 for in-state tuition) and three additional credit hours (from 12 to 15) went into effect in the fall semester.

That’s an estimated 20.8 percent of total revenues.

Tuition would have to go up by $14 to $50 per credit hour to meet the 23 percent to 28 percent ratio.

That increase was one reason staff recommended no increase in tuition be considered this year. Under its policy, tuition reviews will take place each October during odd-numbered years, mirroring the biennium or two-year funding cycle of the state Legislature.

Since the latest tuition and credit hour increase started this fall, staff recommended no additional increase be considered until its impact for a full year can be seen.

One dies, two injured in accident near Riverton

RIVERTON (WNE) — One person died and two were injured last week in a single-vehicle rollover on 17 Mile Road. 

Officials said driver Toniette Munguia, 33, died at the scene of the crash, while her passengers were transported to the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper for treatment of their injuries – one via ambulance, the other by helicopter.

 One of the patients was trapped in the Honda CRV involved and had to be extricated, according to Wyoming Highway Patrol reports; the other crash survivor was ejected. 

Munguia also required extrication: WHP reports indicate she was “impaled” during the rollover. 

She was not using a seatbelt, according to the WHP. 

Munguia’s official cause of death will be released pending the results of routine toxicology testing; the Fremont County Coroner’s Office said her body will not be autopsied. 

The crash took place at about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday at milepost 6 on 17 Mile Road between Arapahoe and Ethete. 

Reports state the CRV was eastbound when it “exited the roadway to the left and drove into a flood gate” that “launched” the vehicle into a mid-air roll; the vehicle rolled at least one and a half times before coming to rest.

Restraining order issued against auto dealer

LARAMIE (WNE) — A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order last week against the owner of a recently defunct Laramie car dealership, Snowy Range Dodge, which was sued earlier this year by Nissan for about $6.8 million in unpaid debt.

The temporary restraining order, a type of emergent but temporary injunction, bars the dealership from “encumbering, transferring, spending, removing, or otherwise disposing of, damaging, altering, or impairing, account funds, whether in the form of a check, withdrawal, transfer or otherwise, without the written consent of (Nissan) or until further order of this court.”

The dealership’s owner, JAG Auto, is alleged to have sold Nissan vehicles without paying the car manufacturer for the product.

Nissan’s financing of the car dealership allowed JAG Auto to acquire an inventory of new and used vehicles without pre-paying for them.

In total, Nissan claims it is owed more than $6.8 million from the Laramie company.

Nissan and the car dealership entered into a financing agreement in May 2017, and Nissan then discovered in late 2018 the car dealership ”failed to keep its working capital and net cash at or above guidelines” established by Nissan.

After the lawsuit began, the Pierce Street dealership was sold to a Colorado company in July and now operates as Johnson Auto of Laramie.

U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson set a hearing for Nov. 6 to determine whether a preliminary injunction should be issued against JAG Auto.