Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
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POWELL — In late October, Cody police received a report that a 5-year-old student at Livingston Elementary School had been sexually assaulted and beaten by fellow students on multiple occasions. However , following an “extensive” investigation by police, Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric says he doesn’t believe the assaults actually happened. On Tuesday, he formally declined to file any criminal charges in connection with the case. “There’s simply no evidence that crimes were committed … it’s just not there,” Skoric said in an...
Via Wyoming News Exchange POWELL — Authorities investigating the disappearance of a Cody woman found dried blood and an apparent bullet hole in the vehicle she was last seen traveling in, court records say. The SUV is owned by Katie Ferguson’s ex-boyfriend, Adam Aviles Jr., who was arrested last week amid the investigation. Aviles is facing a federal charge that alleges he illegally possessed ammunition, but the 26-year-old has not been charged in connection with Ferguson’s disappearance. Ferguson was last seen in early October, as she began...
POWELL — A Powell accountant is facing allegations that he embezzled more than $1.2 million from his employer over a 12-year period. Carl W. Wheeler, 74, was arrested by Cody police on Monday and charged with four felony counts of theft. The charges allege that Wheeler siphoned the money from Sage Accounting, the internal business office of the Cody-based Sage Publishing Company, which owns and operates community newspapers. Wheeler remained in the Park County Detention Center on Wednesday, with his bail set at $500,000 cash or surety. W...
Admits she tried to avoid paying $2.5 million in taxes A Cody businesswoman recently pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, admitting she withheld and then manipulated several years of returns in an attempt to avoid paying more than $2.5 million in taxes. As part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Susan K. Patrick acknowledged that she’d hidden $10 million of business income — and, in turn, $9.5 million of personal income — between 2012 and 2014. Patrick is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 19 in U.S. District Court in Balti...
POWELL — The fight over The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ new Cody temple is headed to the courts. On Monday, a group of 11 couples and individuals who live near the site sued the City of Cody’s Planning, Zoning and Adjustment Board, asking a judge to overrule the board and reverse its approval of the temple plans. Known collectively as “Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods,” the neighbors are reiterating their arguments that the 9,950 square foot temple does not belong in their residential area west of the Olive Glenn Golf Course. M...
POWELL — The grizzly bear found dead along the North Fork Highway last week was killed by a Cody area hunter who said he mistook the animal for a black bear, according to court documents. The hunter, Patrick M. Gogerty, reportedly came forward on May 2 — the day after he reportedly shot the bear, and after the bear’s carcass drew widespread public attention. “Gogerty should have turned himself in immediately,” North Cody Game Warden Travis Crane wrote in an affidavit included in court records. Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric charg...
POWELL — Federal prosecutors have taken over the case against a Powell woman who allegedly received substantial quantities of fentanyl and meth in the mail — and they say she wasn’t the only person involved. Last week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming charged Victoria A. Zupko with felony counts of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and meth and of unlawfully using the U.S. Postal Service to facilitate a felony drug offense. Zupko was arrested on March 21, soon after she picked up a package from her doorstep and brought...
POWELL — Kanye West and his businesses may owe more than $50 million in taxes, but they appear mostly all square with the State of Wyoming. Now known as Ye, the musician and entrepreneur left behind tens of thousands of dollars worth of IOUs to the state when he and his businesses pulled out of Cody in 2021. Earlier this year, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services filed $75,400 worth of liens against two of West’s limited liability companies in Park County. The liens showed that Psalm Cody Ranch — which holds West’s sprawling ranch s...
POWELL - Snowflakes caught in a chilly wind whizzed by as Chrystal and Calvin Alpers ate lunch in Cody. They could have seen birds flitting between branches in nearby pines and squirrels scampering from tree to tree, but they were too busy catching up on the morning news while enjoying some fast food together. Nearby picnic tables were understandably vacant on the wintry spring day, but the couple was comfortable inside one of the new geodesic domes installed next to the Cody Country Chamber of...
POWELL — Leaders of the Park County Republican Party contend state Sen. R.J. Kost, R-Powell, has a conflict of interest — his concurrent service on the Powell hospital board — that should have prevented him from voting in October’s special session on vaccine mandates. However, Kost says he’s been assured by counsel that his dual roles do not present a legal problem. The county party’s central committee voted unanimously this month to send a letter to Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill and Secretary of State Ed Buchanan that accuses Kost of v...
POWELL - Firearms manufacturers are not able to sell their guns and ammo on the state's Shop Wyoming website - and a Cody lawmaker wants the attorney general to take action against what she sees as illegal discrimination. Last month, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, asked Attorney General Bridget Hill to use a new law to sue the Wyoming Small Business Development Center Network, which operates the online marketplace. Williams made the request after complaints from Big Horn Armory of...
POWELL — A Bridger, Montana, man was arrested Wednesday on allegations that he started the 28,600-acre Robertson Draw Fire while off-trail on his motorcycle. John Lightburn, 55, faces felony and misdemeanor counts of negligent arson which allege he put people’s lives and property in danger by “purposely or knowingly” starting the wildfire. A misdemeanor count of criminal mischief alleges that Lightburn operated his motorcycle in an area of the Custer Gallatin National Forest that’s closed to motorized vehicles and damaged public lands. Ac...