Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Sorted by date Results 1 - 12 of 12
POWELL - Amid the current pandemic, attendance at both the Cody Stampede rodeo and parade sank significantly from typical years. However, "it seemed like, all in all, it went well," Stampede Board member and Park County Commissioner Lee Livingston said Tuesday. "Everybody worked with us, we worked with everybody and no, we're not going to come out of it unscathed," Livingston said of the lower ticket sales and revenue, "but we had an event that a lot of people wanted to see and a lot of people w...
POWELL — A jury convicted a Wapiti man of first-degree murder for killing his wife and a judge ordered the 77-year-old to spend the rest of his life in prison. But Dennis K. Klingbeil is hoping that the Wyoming Supreme Court will see his case differently: Klingbeil’s attorneys filed notice last month that he is appealing his sentence. Although Klingbeil owned millions of dollars worth of properties at the time of the murder, he says his assets have since been frozen and that he can’t afford a lawyer. As a result, he’s asked for a taxpaye...
POWELL — Law enforcement officials say evidence indicates that a former local resident murdered a woman in Cheyenne over the weekend, then attempted to hide her body in a remote area south of Cody Saturday afternoon. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation has identified the victim as 40-year-old Angela Elizondo; agents believe Elizondo was killed in Cheyenne, where she lived, the division told media outlets on Tuesday. The suspect charged in connection with the case is 45-year-old Joseph C. Underwood of Cheyenne, a former Cody r...
POWELL — Federal prosecutors have charged three Powell men with health care fraud and other felony crimes, alleging they submitted millions of dollars worth of fraudulent bills to Medicaid several years ago. Under an indictment unsealed late Wednesday afternoon, former Northwest Wyoming Treatment Center employees Matthew “Ty” Barrus, Greg Bennett and Devin Dutson face a combined total of 15 charges; each charge carries the possibility of prison time. All three men made their first appearances in U.S. District Court in Casper this week and a...
POWELL — Rejecting Dennis Klingbeil’s claims that he accidentally shot his wife in the head last year, a Park County jury convicted the 77-year-old Wapiti resident of first-degree murder on Friday. The 12 jurors deliberated for only about 2 1/2 hours before unanimously returning a guilty verdict, finding that Klingbeil killed Donna Klingbeil “purposely and with premeditated malice” on Aug. 5, 2018. “He robbed Donna of the rest of her life and he robbed Donna’s family of the rest of her life,” Special Deputy Park County Prosecuting A...
POWELL — Less than two years ago, Cody Laboratories was home to 135 higher-paying jobs, planning a massive expansion and praised by local and state leaders as an example of how Wyoming could diversify its economy. But by the end of this summer, the pharmaceutical manufacturer will cease operations and close its doors. Representatives from Philadelphia-based Lannett Company, which owns Cody Labs, broke the news to employees on Tuesday. Lannett officials said the dozens of workers will be laid off in three phases: at the end of June, in early A...
POWELL - As his time as Park County's Homeland Security Coordinator neared its end last week, Mart Knapp was busy putting up strips of foil in a subterranean room. The roughly $12,000 project - intended to shield the room from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) or solar flare - was one of Knapp's final efforts to help the county prepare for the worst. As homeland security coordinator, Knapp has assisted in drawing up plans for responding to crises ranging from floods to earthquakes to extreme...
POWELL — In recent weeks, more than a dozen women have contacted the Park County Sheriff’s Office to report being abused at a Clark facility for troubled teenage girls. The allegations — from 15 former patients of Trinity Teen Solutions — are all years old, dating as far back as 2007 to as recently as 2015. Angie Woodward, who cofounded Trinity with her husband Jerry, said in an interview that the business takes any allegations of abuse or mistreatment very seriously. However, she also said the complaints appear to be coming from a group of you...
POWELL — In 2015, federal authorities agreed that William “Bill” Lee’s days of dealing and using methamphetamine appeared to be behind him. As a probation officer explained at the time, Lee had completed his court-ordered drug treatment, stabilized his personal life in Cody and was “no longer in need of supervision.” However, it was only about a year later, in November 2016, that Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents in Powell began to hear that Lee was again involved with meth. One informant later told authorities that “Lee was de...
POWELL — This summer, Bank of the West officials began promoting the fact that they’re no longer funding certain fossil fuel-related projects and businesses — prompting State Treasurer Mark Gordon and Gov. Matt Mead to suggest pulling all state funds from the bank. But after conversations with bank leaders, Gordon indicated last week that he may be open to continuing the state’s relationship with Bank of the West. “It sounded to me like there was potential for further conversations and the opportunity to maybe consider solutions that would be...
POWELL — While looking to obtain some methamphetamine last month, a Powell woman is alleged to have texted a very wrong number: Instead of connecting with an obliging dealer, she reached a Powell police officer on his department-issued cellphone. That officer, Sgt. Paul Sapp, played along, pretending that he had meth to deliver. Sapp’s impromptu sting operation ultimately resulted in Audrey K. Biggica being charged with a misdemeanor count of attempting or conspiring to possess a controlled substance and, because she allegedly offered sex...
POWELL — Authorities allege that a truck driver arrested in Powell this month kidnapped and tried murdering a female passenger outside Thermopolis. Hugo A. Luna Aguero, 45, is facing felony charges in Hot Springs County of attempted first-degree murder and kidnapping. Luna, of Peoria, Arizona, is alleged to have strangled a woman he’d picked up in Glendale, Arizona, and left her in a ditch along Wyoming Highway 120. Luna remained in jail in Thermopolis on Monday, with bail set at $500,000 cash while he awaits a preliminary hearing, which wil...