Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884

Wyoming News Briefs

Cheyenne travel agent sentenced to prison for stealing thousands

CHEYENNE (WNE) – A former local travel agent who stole thousands of dollars from people through his business was sentenced Monday morning in Laramie County District Court.

Brian Box received a variety of concurrent sentences across his numerous case files, but will ultimately serve two to four years in prison and 20 years of probation upon release, which slightly deviated from the plea agreement. He was also ordered to pay more than $100,000 in restitution to numerous victims.

Box pleaded guilty last fall to 28 counts of felony theft, seven counts of misdemeanor theft, seven counts of fraud by check and two counts of use of another’s credit card. His guilty pleas were part of a plea agreement between him and the state in which he agreed to served up to three years in prison.

Box was the chief operator of the hunting-focused travel agency in Frontier Mall known as both Top Travel and The Outdoor Pursuit. In late 2018 and early 2019, Box allegedly stole $125,000 from 34 people through his business, which is no longer operating.

At Monday’s hearing, defense attorney Joanne Zook said Box’s business started struggling once his business partner retired. He got behind on payments to a company he hired to “make his business beautiful” and used the money he stole to try to save his failing business.

Police found out about the fraud when several customers reported they had paid for their trips through the company, and the trips had been cancelled without their knowledge or a refund. Investigators determined Box was allegedly keeping the trip deposits customers made for himself after he cancelled the trips without their knowledge. He was also accused of keeping the refunds from the trips.

Gillette police confiscate 8 ounces of meth

GILLETTE (WNE) — Three people are being held in Campbell County jail on drug charges involving 8 ounces of meth found in a hotel room — a “substantial” amount, according to Gillette police.

Three of those arrested — Allen David Jenerou, 34, Chelsie Gray Grass, 32, and Josie Jean Williams, 31 — are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver meth, and possession with intent to deliver meth. Each charge has a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

In addition, Jenerou faces a charge of being a habitual criminal, which has a penalty of 10 to 50 years, because of an aggravated assault and battery charge against him for allegedly stomping a woman’s head into the ground.

It was that domestic violence that precipitated the drug arrest, according to affidavits filed in the cases.

About six hours after the assault, police pulled over a 2008 BMW he was a passenger in and arrested him. Small amounts of marijuana, crystal meth and liquid meth were found in the car.

Police learned that Jenerou was staying at a local hotel and Gray Grass and Williams were staying with him.

After a drug dog indicated drugs were in the room registered to Jenerou, police got a search warrant and found 8 ounces of crystal meth in a black cardboard box hidden underneath the bed frame of one of the beds in the room.

Jenerou has been charged with felony possession of meth and a misdemeanor count of domestic battery.  He has been convicted of felony charges before in Campbell County, including an aggravated assault in 2011 in which he was accused of choking a woman who was 10 weeks pregnant after they argued because he had driven her car while he was drunk. 

Riverton votes to change name of Riverton Regional Airport

RIVERTON (WNE) — Fremont County’s commercial airport has a new name. 

The Riverton City Council adopted a resolution unanimously Tuesday changing the facility’s name from Riverton Regional Airport to Central Wyoming Regional Airport. 

The move came at the recommendation of the Riverton Airport Board, which has considered a name change for the facility several times in the past decade, most recently in 2017. 

At that time, Airport Board chair Dean Peranteaux said he was opposed to the idea because the City of Riverton was funding the airport without support from other community stakeholders. 

But since then, Lander and Fremont County have begun contributing regularly to the local air service fund, so “it makes sense” now to “get rid of that Riverton name [and] make it a little more regional.” 

Riverton public works director Kyle Butterfield said the renaming discussion arose this year after a presentation from a marketing firm associated with the Fremont Air Service Team.

 “[They] reported that a name change for Riverton Regional will help with search engine optimization and the regionalization of the airport,” Butterfield said Tuesday. 

Butterfield said a report from the FAST marketing firm shows the phrase “Wyoming airports” is entered 8,100 per month on internet search engines. 

“That term [is] searched very heavily, and we’d like to tie into that as an airport,” Butterfield said Tuesday. 

Health Department: Protect yourself from wildfire smoke

JACKSON (WNE) — With smoke settling in the Tetons from wildfires burning around the West, the Teton County Health Department is reminding Jackson residents to be mindful of the potential health effects caused by wildfire smoke.

Wildfire smoke can irritate eyes, aggravate respiratory problems and worsen the symptoms of heart or lung disease, the Health Department warned in a news release.

“Everyone should avoid heavy outdoor exercise when our local air is smoky,” Dr. Travis Riddell, Teton District Health Officer, said in the release. “Those at-risk should be especially careful in limiting their smoke exposure.”

The Health Department describes at-risk individuals as people who have pre-existing heart and respiratory conditions, including allergies, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Older adults are more likely to be affected because they are more likely to have heart or lung disease, and children are vulnerable because their airways are still developing and because they breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults.

Since avoiding the smoke can mean staying indoors, the Health Department recommends keeping indoor area as clean as possible. 

Here are a few tips:

Try to keep windows and doors closed.

Keep the fresh-air intake closed and filter clean if you run an air conditioner.

Seek shelter elsewhere if you do not have an air conditioner and it is too warm to stay inside with the windows closed.

When smoke levels are high, do not use anything that burns, such as candles, fireplaces or gas stoves.

Do not vacuum, because vacuuming stirs up particles already inside your home.

Do not smoke, because it increases a person’s total exposure to particulate matter in the air.

Man accused of threatening campers with machete

LARAMIE (WNE) — A 41-year-old Cheyenne man, Joseph O’Byrne, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly using machetes Sunday to threaten the lives of campers at Happy Jack.

Those campers told deputies for the Albany County Sheriff ’s Office that, the night before, they had been hiking and “had spoken to the defendant about his dogs on the trail and the defendant laughed and continued down the trail,” according to an affidavit of probable cause.

The next morning, O’Byrne came to their campsite off Forest Service Road 714 that morning and, while brandishing two machetes, allegedly asked them if “they were ready to die and then stated he was ready to die,” the affidavit states. O’Byrne then reportedly began hitting trees and swinging his machetes as the campers filmed a portion of the incident.

After leaving briefly, O’Byrne allegedly confronted the campers a second time, again hitting trees with his machetes and swinging them around before he got into his minivan and began to drive away.

That was about the time when deputies arrived, and O’Byrne pulled his minivan over and exited.

Along with the two charges of aggravated assault for threatening to use a drawn deadly weapon when “it was not reasonably necessary in defense of his person, property, or abode or to prevent serious bodily injury to another,” O’Byrne was also charged with possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent and breach of peace.

Woman collecting ballot signatures cited

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Laramie County sheriff’s deputies issued a citation to a woman illegally gathering signatures near a polling station Tuesday, part of a broader pattern of disturbances caused by staffers for independent presidential candidates Kanye West and Brock Pierce. 

Deputies were dispatched to two different polling places in Cheyenne on primary day Tuesday, Lt. Mark Slovik said Thursday. Two calls were to Laramie County Community College and came because of the same woman who was gathering signatures within 100 yards of the polls, a violation of state electioneering law. It’s unclear if she was gathering signatures for West or Pierce, both of whom need 4,025 people to sign the petition in the next week in order to be included on the Wyoming ballot. 

“She was very argumentative and uncooperative,” Slovik said in an email. “Her argument was that the law should be 100 feet as compared to 100 yards and that there have been federal court decisions determining that 100 yards is unconstitutional.” 

After being cited for breaking electioneering laws, she “ultimately agreed to collect signatures at a distance of 100 yards,” Slovik said. 

But deputies were later called again and returned to LCCC, where the same woman “was stopping traffic causing a disturbance so that the polling place could not operate in an orderly manner.” 

She was again cited, this time for disturbing a polling place. LCCC staff asked that she be given a criminal trespass warning, and the woman left the property. 

Slovik said he didn’t know who the woman was gathering signatures for. 

Gillette College enrollment down by 18%

GILLETTE (WNE) — Gillette College is reporting an 18% drop in enrollment heading into the fall semester, slightly less than the national average of 20% for colleges across the country.

Micah Olsen, assistant vice president for enrollment management, said the college is down 210 students from this time last year.

Olsen said Sheridan College has seen a 13% drop, or 172 behind last year’s enrollment.

“Many schools are seeing significantly larger setbacks compared to this,” Olsen said about the national uncertainty that’s come during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Enrollment is very healthy right now with everything going on.”

The enrollment drop comes after Gillette College saw a 6.2% increase last year.

The district’s total drop of enrollment is from 2375 to 1987, a 16.3% decrease.

Olsen said the college district has received more than 500 applications for a pair of state grants made available through Wyoming’s share of Federal CARES Act money. The grants were announced Aug. 7 by Gov. Mark Gordon and allocate nearly $60 million for colleges students throughout the state.

Full-time students can receive up to $7000 by combining both grants.

Gillette College Vice President Janell Oberlander said financial aid has processed about $100,000 worth of CARES Act funding for students at the college.

Olsen believes the grants won’t necessarily drive new enrollment, but will help current students pay for tuition they’re already taking on.

Oberlander said enrollment could potentially go up as the semester progresses.

Snake River logjam claims boats near Jackson

JACKSON (WNE) — A tricky river bend leading into a mid-channel logjam is repeatedly capsizing and pinning boats on the Snake River near the historic Bar BC Ranch.

Grand Teton National Park sent word in a press release that the obstruction has led to at least eight incidents rangers have responded to in the past month. Boaters floating the Deadmans Bar to Moose stretch of the river should be skilled and prepared, rangers cautioned.

“The outcomes of these incidents have been favorable, but several close calls occurred,” the Teton Park notice stated. “The park recognizes and appreciates the efforts of concessionaire river guides and fellow boaters that lent a hand as their efforts likely saved the lives of those they helped.”

Anybody floating the swift, braided and obstruction-strewn stretch of river leading south from Deadmans Bar should be skilled enough on the oars to maneuver in tight quarters and read the river well in advance. Novice boaters should consider other sections of the Snake, the park warned in its press release.

Personal flotation devices have saved lives after boats have capsized in recent weeks.

“During one of these incidents, both occupants of the boat hit a log jam and fell into the water,” the park’s news release said. “They were swept under the log jam, resurfaced, and were swept under a second time. One of the individuals stated, ‘The life jacket saved my life.’”