State Briefs

Man charged in abusing horse with stun gun, chain denied bond

RIVERTON (WNE) — A Wyoming District Court Judge has denied special bond provisions to allow an accused animal abuser to go to a rodeo. 

Charged with three counts of felony cruelty to animals, Cole Littlewhiteman, 35, of Pavillion, could face up to six years in prison and $15,000 in fines if convicted. 

He was charged on Aug. 13, under a court affidavit alleging that he had kicked, tased and beaten a horse even while the horse lay helpless on the ground. He pleaded not guilty on Aug. 31. 

Littlewhiteman also was bonded out of jail by another man soon after his arrest. 

The second man, of South Dakota, posted a $20,000 bond to free Littlewhiteman. 

The defendant applied on Sept. 20 for a modification of his bond, so that he could attend a rodeo in Casper on Sept. 24. 

Littlewhiteman had been forbidden in the original bond order from having possession, contact, with, care of or control over any animal. 

The Fremont County Attorney’s Office objected to the rodeo request. 

Wyoming District Court Judge Marv Tyler noted in a Sept. 22 filing that on Sept. 20 he reviewed and considered the request, but “given current bond and release conditions regarding the defendant being prohibited from certain activities involving animals,” the modification was “respectfully denied.” 

Littlewhiteman’s charging documents state that he was arrested by the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office after videos surfaced depicting him tasing, stomping, kicking, punching and chain-whipping a horse –– according to court documents written July 30 by FSO lieutenant John Zerga. 

Law enforcement received 14 video clips of varying length, showing what Zerga would later write was “torture and torment of the horse in an aggressive manner, causing undue suffering.”

Speeding F-350, semi kill five Teton bison

JACKSON WNE) — For the second time in four years, a nighttime auto wreck in Grand Teton National Park has claimed the lives of a handful of bison at once.

Both of the collisions likely involved speed — the nighttime limit is 45 mph — and both occurred in the Elk Ranch Flats area of the park, where bison are routinely congregated in big numbers alongside the highway. 

The recent fatal accident occurred at 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 19, when an out-of-county Wyoming resident was headed southbound down Highway 26/89/191 in a Ford F-350.

“The bison herd was thought to be crossing the road, and the driver caught the tail end of it,” Teton Park spokesman C.J. Adams told the Jackson Hole Daily.

The Ford’s original collision killed or severely injured four bison. A fifth bison was later hit and killed. A semi-truck driver headed northbound veered into the southbound lane because the broken-down F-350 was in his lane.

Law enforcement rangers who investigated the wreck believed that speed was a factor in the F-350 striking the herd.

“A citation was issued for expired registration,” Adams said. “Even though speed was suspected as a factor, law enforcement officers determined they didn’t have sufficient evidence to pursue that.”

“I know we think of bison as these large animals,” he added. “But at night, it’s really dark in the park and bison are kind of darkly colored, so they can be hard to see. That’s why it’s important to go 45 miles per hour. You can save a life, and that life might even be your own when it comes to hitting bison.”

Traffic stop yields 700 pounds of meth, cocaine

EVANSTON (WNE) — Two men traveling through Uinta County last weekend are behind bars and facing felony charges of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver after a routine traffic stop by an alert Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper resulted in the discovery of approximately 700 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine.

On Sunday, Oct. 24, WHP Trooper Scott Neilson was parked in the median of I-80 near Lyman when he noticed a red Dodge Caravan traveling eastbound that he believed was exceeding the posted speed limit.

Neilson then conducted a traffic stop for speeding, and the two men inside, later identified as driver Brandon L. Rampersaud and passenger Darren K. Hall, reportedly informed him the vehicle was a rental and they were “on a little road trip.”

An affidavit filed by Neilson states he noticed the odor of raw marijuana emanating from the vehicle.

Neilson’s canine partner reportedly zeroed in on some large black duffle bags in the rear of the van and when Neilson unzipped the top bag, he reportedly discovered multiple large plastic bags containing a white crystalline substance.

A search of the van reportedly revealed eight duffle bags containing more than 100 large clear plastic bags and clear plastic tubs containing 601.2 pounds of methamphetamine. They also discovered 40 cellophane wrapped bricks containing 108 pounds of cocaine (including packaging). The methamphetamine would have an approximate street value of $2 million and the cocaine approximately $1 million.

Both men are facing two felony counts of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 5.

Schools now reassured on ARP money

RIVERTON (WNE) — Wyoming’s unique school funding system should not affect its use of emergency educational funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, state staffers said this week. 

Last month, officials said Wyoming had received its third round of ARPA funding for education but had not yet distributed it because of an associated requirement to maintain state funding levels at a certain rate. 

The question was whether that federal funding guarantee includes local as well as state money – both of which are used to pay for education in Wyoming. 

This week, school finance analyst Matt Willmarth told the Joint Appropriations Committee that the U.S. Department of Education has been “favorable towards Wyoming” in allowing the state’s educational funding guarantee to include both state and local revenues. 

“Utilizing the state guarantee amount equalizes that calculation across years,” he said. 

According to the Wyoming Department of Education, the Wyoming School Foundation Program provides a guaranteed level of funding to every Wyoming public school districts; districts whose local revenues amount to less than the guarantee get money from the state to make up the difference, while districts with access to more local revenues than their state guarantee give the excess back to the state in a process known as “recapture.” 

In previous reports, WDE chief academic officer Shelley Hamel said Wyoming is slated to receive more than $300 million in emergency education funding through ARPA, with $273 million of that money going out to local districts to respond to needs that have arisen due to COVID-19, or needs that have been exacerbated due to COVID-19. Hamell added that 20 percent of the money must go toward addressing potential learning loss due to COVID-19.