Wyoming News Briefs

Man who pulled shotgun on fireworks users bound over

GILLETTE (WNE) — The man accused of threatening a group of adults and children with a loaded shotgun because they continued to light off fireworks has been bound over to District Court.

Randy A. Stephens, 41, was charged July 1 in Circuit Court with felony aggravated assault and battery and six counts of misdemeanor reckless endangering after allegedly using a shotgun to threaten a group of people setting off fireworks June 30.

He waived his preliminary hearing July 7 and was bound over to District Court on all seven counts, according to court documents.

Police responded at about 10:30 p.m. June 30 to a report of a man identified as Stephens approaching a group of people with a shotgun because they had been lighting off fireworks.

When officers arrived, they found Stephens unarmed outside of a residence on the street.

He told officers that he “stole a loaded firearm from my wife and went down the street making threats with it,” according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Stephens was cooperative, no longer had the shotgun and said, “I f***ed up.”

The neighbor who had been lighting fireworks in his driveway said Stephens was irate when he approached the group, saying he had to work early in the morning and that he was not afraid to go back to prison, according to the affidavit. Stephens returned to his home, then came back outside, this time with the shotgun, according to the affidavit.

When the group saw Stephens approach again, they told the children present to go inside.

The neighbor’s wife, after initially thinking Stephens came out with a baseball bat, saw the gun and wrestled it away from Stephens. She then handed it to a friend who brought the gun inside where officers later retrieved it, according to the affidavit.

Two die in plane crash near Buffalo

CASPER (WNE) – Two people died Thursday when a small plane crashed in the Bighorn National Forest, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office reported Sunday. 

The plane went down en route to Buffalo from Powell. It ignited a wildfire that, as of Friday afternoon, had burned about an acre of forest near Willow Park Reservoir, according to the U.S. Forest Service. 

The aircraft departed Powell Municipal Airport at about noon Thursday. The following day, the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office learned from air traffic control in Salt Lake City that the plane was missing with two people on board. 

The same day, the forest service notified the sheriff’s office that firefighters had located the wreckage of a plane while responding to a fire in a remote area of the Bighorn National Forest northwest of Buffalo, the sheriff’s office said. They determined there were no survivors and that the occupants’ remains were not identifiable. 

On Saturday, a team set out to find the wreckage on foot. They found the crash site at 9:30 a.m., about four hours after leaving from Buffalo, said the sheriff’s office. 

The team confirmed that there were no survivors. The aircraft did not have any identifiable markings, the sheriff’s office reported. 

A search team — which included members of the sheriff’s office, the forest service and Johnson County’s search and rescue and coroner’s offices — transported the remains back to Buffalo. 

There was no immediate update on the size of the fire, which is burning on the Powder River Ranger District. Local forest fire crews were being assisted by smokejumpers based in West Yellowstone, Montana and the Wyoming state helicopter. 

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

Fire danger high, but no fire ban yet in Sheridan County

SHERIDAN (WNE) —While there are no fire restrictions in place on Sheridan County Game and Fish Commission lands yet, officials say fire danger is very high and advise caution.

“The fire danger right now is high to very high, and on days when it’s 100 degrees, hot and dry with a predicted humidity down to about 14%, that danger is definitely very high,” Sheridan County Fire Warden Chris Thomas said.

“A few days of this [weather] will dry things out quickly, and all the weekly rains I was hoping for haven’t shown up yet,” he continued.

Stage One restrictions are likely coming, according to Thomas, and already in place in Johnson County. Sheridan County restrictions come down from the Board of County Commissioners, and Thomas has requested that the subject be added to the July 19 agenda.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department Sheridan Region Public Information Specialist Tina Schmidt said fire bans on WGFD-commission-owned lands usually follow county bans.

There is already a fire ban on commission-owned lands in Johnson and Crook counties, in effect now for Johnson County and to begin on July 22 for Crook County. 

Thomas said the county also works closely with the Bureau of Land Management when it comes to fire bans. As of Friday morning, the fire danger was high to very high on the Bighorn National Forest, but campfires were allowed. Officials with the BNF said that could change even by Friday afternoon.

In Sheridan County, one of the most popular WGFD Commission-owned camping destinations is the Tongue River Canyon, which are a handful of campsites that have established campfire rings. 

“At this time, we don’t have a ban there, but you do have to have the fire within that established campfire ring,” Schmidt said.

Wyoming’s average gasoline prices down almost 9 cents per gallon

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Average gasoline prices in Wyoming have fallen 8.9 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.72 per gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 494 stations in Wyoming.

Prices in Wyoming are 10 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, and stand $1.32 per gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has declined 10.8 cents in the last week, and stands at $5.54 per gallon.

According to GasBuddy price reports, the cheapest station in Wyoming was priced at $4 per gallon Sunday, while the most expensive was $5.39, a difference of $1.39 per gallon.

The national average price of gasoline has fallen 15.8 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.51 per gallon Monday. The national average is down 47.9 cents per gallon from a month ago, and stands $1.35 per gallon higher 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.

Taxidermist ordered to pay fines and restitution

ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — A Green River taxidermist has been ordered to pay restitution to several clients following an investigation by Wyoming Game and Fish Department Game Wardens. 

The investigation began in April 2021 after Game Warden Kim Olson reported that the owner of White Mountain Skulls, Naomie Martinez, had failed to submit her records for 2020. 

Martinez had also failed to renew her taxidermist license for 2021. 

Game Warden Kelli Pauling contacted Martinez, who was in possession of more than seventy unfinished taxidermy specimens. 

Martinez was charged for operating as a taxidermist without a license, failing to submit records in a timely manner, and transporting game without a game tag within Wyoming. 

In January, she pleaded guilty to failing to submit records and shipping\transporting game without a game tag within Wyoming. 

She was fined $435.00 and ordered to pay restitution to clients totaling $2,858.55. She was also placed on twelve months unsupervised probation. 

The charge for operating without a license was dismissed. 

The majority of the wildlife specimens seized during the investigation have been returned to their legal owners who were able to claim their property by producing photos from the field which were compared to the specimens seized from Martinez. 

Game and Fish has been unable to identify the owners of three skulls with antlers that were part of this case. 

Anyone missing property that was left in the care of WhiteMountain Skulls, may contact the Green River Regional Office at 307-875- 3223.