State Briefs

Woman pleads guilty to using Sweetwater dispatch funds for own use

ROCK SPRINGS — Laura Etienne pleaded guilty Thursday morning to using funds from the Sweetwater County Combined Communications Dispatch Center to buy nearly $3,000 worth of personal items between 2016 and 2018.

She and her husband Robin Etienne, former director of the Combined Communications Dispatch Center, were both arrested in January 2020 and charged with felony and misdemeanor counts related to misusing an Amazon Prime account set up for the center and making nearly $7,000 in combined unauthorized purchases. The couple currently lives in Utah.

Laura Etienne originally pleaded not guilty to the felony theft charge at her arraignment in Sweetwater County District Court early in March. Her change of plea Thursday morning in District Court was part of an agreement with the state of Wyoming.

Judge Richard Lavery accepted Laura Etienne‘s guilty plea at Thursday’s video hearing. She will be sentenced following completion of a pre-sentence investigation.

The plea agreement recommendation is a two- to four-year suspended sentence at the Wyoming Women’s Center, three years of supervised probation, and restitution in the amount of $2,955.16 plus court fees. Once restitution is fully paid, probation would be modified to unsupervised. The restitution amount is Laura Etienne‘s portion of the unauthorized charges.

Acknowledging that she had no authority to use the credit card, Laura Etienne told the court she had no reasonable explanation for having done so. She said the credit card was saved on the family’s Amazon account, and she would select it at times when making personal purchases.

Riverton man charged with sexual abuse of children

RIVERTON (WNE) — After catching the attention of doctors, school counselors and police for years, a 60-year-old man is being prosecuted for first-degree sexual abuse of children. 

Lester Lietz, of Riverton, is in custody on a $100,000 cash-only bond. 

In 2015, a Riverton Police Department officer spoke with a school counselor regarding reports that Lietz had pushed a nine-year-old girl up by the neck and “pulled” on her privates until she cried. He’d also been seen touching a four-year-old’s genitalia. 

In 2016, then-RPD detective Daniel Ladd spoke with Indian Health Services about liberties Lietz was believed to have taken with the older girl. In June of 2019, the children were taken with family to Nevada, away from Lietz, where they were encouraged by RPD detective Jacob Nation to speak with law enforcement there. 

In the interview with Nevada police, another of the girls, who was five during the interview but four during the incident, described painful encounters with Lietz. 

Lietz is charged with two separate accusations of first-degree sexual abuse of children, each of which carries a minimum of 25 years in prison and a maximum of 50 years. 

The case was brought against him April 28. He was transferred to Fremont County District Court for felony-level prosecution May 7. 

He pleaded “not guilty” soon after.

Yellowstone staff test negative for coronavirus

JACKSON (WNE) — Yellowstone National Park staff are reportedly clear of COVID-19. The park had 43 employees who regularly interact with visitors tested for the virus on May 28 and 29. Every employee’s test result was returned negative, according to a park press release on Thursday.

It was the first round in a series of “surveillance” testing that will carry on through the summer, as per the reopening plan implemented by the park. The testing is aimed at slowing the spread of the virus through efforts to recognize and quickly isolate any affected individuals who only have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic carriers.

Yellowstone will be running another 100 tests this week. The press release stated that they will continue giving public updates on the surveillance testing results.

Both Wyoming and Montana are giving assistance to the park’s testing program, as are Park County, Wyoming, and Park County, Montana.

Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said that within the national park system, their testing practices are the most aggressive undertaken so far.

“Information gained from this program will inform management decisions,” Sholly said in the press release.

The press release also stated that the park’s vehicle traffic at the open Wyoming gates has been 70% of 2019 vehicle traffic at those same gates. Overall, vehicle traffic in the park is only 20% of last year’s.

Legislators to review ‘workshare’ plan

CASPER (WNE) — The Wyoming Legislature will likely take up a bill in the next few months that would allow workers whose hours have been reduced to receive some unemployment benefits for up to one year. 

If passed, the legislation would set up something commonly known as a short-term compensation, or “worksharing,” program, opening up unemployment benefits to workers still on payroll while allowing small business owners to cut employee hours in an effort to save costs. 

While common in many states, such a program has never existed in Wyoming. However, provisions in the federal coronavirus relief bill included an appropriation to help states stand up a program while backfilling 100% of the funding for those programs. 

Though seemingly an easy fix to stabilize businesses and reduce unemployment, short-term compensation programs still have their quirks. Under a draft proposal working its way through the Joint Committee on Minerals, Business, and Economic Development, employers would still be required to pay the full cost of their existing health insurance and benefits packages throughout the maximum yearlong duration of the program and can only reduce an employee’s time from 10 to 60%. 

Ultimately, it will be up to every business to decide for themselves whether to implement the program within their own workforce or not. Rep. Cathy Connolly, D-Laramie, however, believes most participants will likely see an overall savings from the program. 

High School Finals Rodeo will not be held in Wyoming 

GILLETTE (WNE) — Gillette will not host the National High School Finals Rodeo this year.

Friday morning, the National High School Rodeo Association announced that the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, will host the NHSFR.

Cam-plex had been asked last week if it would be able to host the NHSFR. The association’s plan to have the NHSFR with social distancing guidelines had received support from Campbell County Commissioners and Campbell County Public Health.

The Lazy E Arena meets the NHSFR’s needs for arenas, camping and stalling.

“We also appreciate that the facility was one of the first to cautiously and safely host events as coronavirus mandates were lifted, so the facility’s staff has the knowledge and protocols in place to meet local, state and federal health mandates to protect our contestants, attendees, volunteers and staff,” the association wrote in a press release.

“We certainly respect their decision, and we would have loved to have had it here,” said Cam-plex General Manager Jeff Esposito.

James Higginbotham, NHSRA executive director, said he appreciates “the abundant amount of support from the venues that reached out” to the association to host the event.

In Wyoming, the Sweetwater Events Complex also tossed its hat into the ring to host this year’s event at the last minute, it said in a press release Thursday. Rock Springs was the most recent host of the rodeo, having it in 2018-19.

DOT to close 10 rest areas

GILLETTE (WNE) — The Wyoming Department of Transportation will close ten rest areas located throughout the state to reduce the agency’s operational costs.

The closures are effective June 15 and were prompted by a need for WYDOT to reduce costs due to budgetary shortfalls. They were approved by the Wyoming Transportation Commission during its recent special meeting.

Included in the closures are the rest stops along Interstate 90 at Moorcroft and Sundance and the rest stop in Upton on Highway 16.

“This is a painful reality but a necessary step given our state’s fiscal situation,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a press release. 

The other rest areas that will close include Lusk on US-18, Guernsey on US-26, Greybull on US 14-16-20, Star Valley on US-89, Ft. Steele on I-80 and Orin Junction and Chugwater, both located on I-25.

“We took a hard look at all of our rest areas and came up with a list of those that we feel we can close with a minimal amount of impact to our travelers,” said WYDOT Director K. Luke Reiner.

The rest area closures will result in a savings to WYDOT of approximately $197,453 from June 15 through Sept. 30, which is the end of the fiscal year. After that, the department will save about $789,812 per year.