Wyoming News Briefs

Former Smith’s employee pleads guilty to stealing thousands of dollars

GILLETTE (WNE) — A woman accused of stealing money from Smith’s while she worked there will plead guilty.

On Nov. 14, Katheryn Cranmer, 39, reached a plea deal in which she agreed to plead guilty to felony theft and, in return, the state will recommend a four-to-six-year prison sentence, suspended for three years of supervised probation.

On July 11, Smith’s reported that Cranmer had stolen $43,000 over the past six months while she was a manager at the store.

Another manager told police that Smith’s loss prevention staff had an open investigation due to the store “coming up short in the drawer” for multiple months in a row. One of these employees said the investigation began in March, and it was determined that the shortages started in January.

From watching video footage and looking at logs, employees identified Cranmer as the suspect. 

Loss prevention staff estimated that Cranmer stole $43,000 from January to June. When she was confronted about this, she admitted to taking $5,800, but was adamant that she didn’t take $43,000.

She agreed to speak with police, and said that, since January, she was tasked with refilling the self-checkout kiosks with cash once a month. She used the loan machine to withdraw cash for the kiosks, according to the affidavit.

She started taking no more than $100 on top of the amount required to refill the kiosks. She admitted to doing this until June and believed she had stolen $5800 this way.

Investigators reviewed financial records that showed transactions made by Cranmer that were not consistent with the deposits into the self-checkout kiosks. According to the records, Cranmer took anywhere from $350 to $1800 each time through this method.

Campbell County bomb squad defuses bomb found in Weston County

GILLETTE (WNE) — The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad was deployed to Weston County on Saturday morning to defuse a bomb that was found in an oil field equipment yard near Upton.

Two members of the four-person Campbell County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad, which serves all of Northeast Wyoming, were called by Weston County law enforcement to defuse a bomb made from a propane tank, cannon fuse and timer.

Campbell County Sheriff’s Capt. Paul Pownall said deputies were successfully able to defuse the bomb one mile south of Upton on the east side of Highway 16.

Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard said the bomb was found in the oil field equipment yard by an employee at about 8 a.m. Saturday, but there were no oil field employees working at the site where the bomb was planted.

“I do want people to be vigilant...If it would’ve worked, it would’ve been somewhat destructive,” Colvard said, but he added that based on the evidence, it’s unlikely other bombs have been placed.

He said the Weston County Sheriff’s Office is investigating promising leads, including possible fingerprints found on the device itself, but it does not yet have a suspect.

“These are tough cases to work through, but we might have a chance on this one,” he said.

Barrasso visits Wyoming National Guard in Middle East on Thanksgiving

CASPER (WNE) — The Wyoming National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery Forward had a special guest for Thanksgiving dinner. 

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso traveled out of the country to celebrate Thanksgiving with the first full battalion deployment in over 70 years to conduct a field artillery mission in the Middle East, sharing a meal on Thursday with troops serving in the United Arab Emirates and in Kuwait. 

“Hundreds of Wyoming’s finest soldiers are bravely serving in the United Arab Emirates and in Kuwait in one of the largest overseas deployments of Wyoming service members,” Barrasso said in a news release. “These soldiers are a long way from home defending our nation and our freedoms. Each of them makes Wyoming proud, and I made sure to let them know how grateful folks back home are for their service. It was an honor and privilege to visit with and share stories of their families and our great state with these brave men and women.” 

More than 360 Wyomingites are serving in the Middle East, according to Barrasso’s office, with 23 hometowns represented in the UAE and 40 hometowns represented in Kuwait. 

In a YouTube video, Barrasso is shown holding a Wyoming state flag and shouting “Powder River, Let ‘Er Buck!” with soldiers in both countries, talking with soldiers at the dinner table and touring both bases. 

Barrasso also held a town hall with troops at both bases and was briefed by military officials on Middle East operations, according to the release.

For the first time in weeks, gasoline prices up slightly in Wyoming

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Average gasoline prices in Wyoming have risen 0.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $2.95 per gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy.com’s survey of 494 stations in Wyoming.

Prices in Wyoming are 15.2 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, and stand 14.5 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

According to GasBuddy price reports, the lowest price in the state Sunday was $2.49 per gallon while the highest was $3.69, a difference of $1.20 per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline has fallen 0.6 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3 per gallon Monday. The national average is down 7.7 cents per gallon from a month ago, and stands 23.2 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data compiled from more than 11 million weekly price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

Cathedral Home aims to launch Crisis Text Line for Wyoming

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Cathedral Home is aiming to fund the launch of a Crisis Text Line for all Wyoming residents, through an official partnership with Crisis Text Line, a nationwide nonprofit.

The service would provide Wyoming residents with free, 24/7, high-quality text-based mental health support and crisis intervention through a team of trained crisis counselors, especially improving mental health access for rural communities or those concerned with the stigma associated with seeking help, according to a news release. 

Currently, there is no other entity in Wyoming partnered with Crisis Text Line.

“Cathedral Home places a high priority on continually identifying mental health gaps throughout the state, and we recognize that this new channel of care could immediately and effectively expand mental health access to so many,” said Nicole Hauser, executive director of Cathedral Home, in the release.

Cathedral Home is a youth services organization in Laramie that helps Wyoming youth and families through comprehensive mental health care.

Crisis Text Line is a nonprofit that provides free mental health support and crisis intervention through texting.

Along with the benefit of free, immediate crisis care for any resident in the state, the partnership would also provide statewide data on gaps in mental health care and unaddressed needs that families in Wyoming are experiencing. This data would help Wyoming agencies like Cathedral Home identify how to best support communities and individuals.

Cathedral Home’s goal is to fund the initial commitment of the Crisis Text Line partnership for three full years, at a total funding need of $19,500. 

Helping to fund the launch of the Crisis Text Line partnership will include a Cathedral Home Giving Tuesday campaign. 

Community members can contribute to the launch of the Crisis Text Line for Wyoming through the Cathedral Home website, under Giving, indicating Crisis Text Line funding in a gift.

Man who was shot while stalking gets prison time

POWELL (WNE) — Stalking a romantic rival resulted in a Powell man getting shot in June, and this week, it resulted in a prison sentence as well. 

At a Tuesday hearing in Park County District Court, Jacob P. Ely accepted a two- to four-year prison sentence on a felony count of stalking. 

The charge stemmed from a June 23 incident in which Ely — despite having been ordered to stay away from his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend — followed the boyfriend to his home in rural Powell. After spotting Ely pursuing him, the man pulled over and a confrontation ensued. 

Ely, 41, reportedly tried hitting the man with a baseball bat, and he shot Ely in the right calf. Ely fled, but was eventually taken to a hospital and then to jail, where he’s remained since. 

District Court Judge Bill Simpson called it a “terribly unfortunate event.” “[It] could have been worse, and it was bad enough as it was,” he said, calling Ely’s actions “unforgivable and inexcusable.” 

The 41-year-old pleaded guilty to the felony stalking charge in exchange for a few other counts being dismissed — including a couple related to allegations that he’d previously stalked his ex and harassed her boyfriend in April. 

Charging documents say Ely was suspected to have driven around the woman’s workplace, parked near her home and to have been behind a series of anonymous, threatening messages sent to the woman, her boyfriend and her friends. “... Wait to see what’s about to blast through your window,” one of the messages said. 

The roughly five months Ely has spent in jail will count toward his two to four years of prison time. The conviction is Ely’s second felony, following a 2018 conviction for possessing a controlled substance. 

Wyoming brings antitrust action against asset managers for ESG policies

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Wyoming is part of a coalition of states that has brought an antitrust enforcement action against asset managers Blackrock, State Street and Vanguard “for their coordinated and anticompetitive environmental, social and governance (ESG) schemes to disrupt the energy industry,” according to a news release from Gov. Mark Gordon’s office.

Each defendant — three of the largest institutional investors in the world — has individually acquired substantial stockholdings in every significant publicly held coal producer in the United States. 

Each thereby has acquired the power to influence the policies of these competing companies and significantly diminish competition in the coal markets, the release said.

“In 2021, Blackrock, State Street and Vanguard publicly announced their respective commitment to use their shares to pressure all portfolio companies in which they held assets to align with a climate activist agenda. Those goals included reducing carbon emissions from coal by over 50%,” the release said.

“Wyoming is committed to protecting our core industries, whether from federal overreaching regulations or unfair market manipulation. I commend our attorney general for her diligence in pursuing all options to protect the coal industry,” Gordon said in the release.

“Under the guise of ESG policies, they have leveraged their holdings and voted their shares to artificially constrain the supply of coal and significantly diminish competition in the markets for coal, which resulted in increased energy prices for American consumers and extraordinary profits for the asset managers,” Gordon continued. “Pushing back against anti-competitive ESG policies, especially when they unfairly exact profits from increased energy costs to Wyoming families and businesses, is one of the ways Wyoming continues to defend our coal industry and help power the country.”