Man accused of sharing marijuana candy in nursing home

PINEDALE (WNE) — A Colorado man visiting his father at the Sublette Center nursing home is charged with giving another resident some THC candy, which the resident had asked him to bring to Wyoming when he came to visit.

William A. Ahrens, of Lyons, Colorado, now faces a felony count of delivery of a controlled substance, marijuana, on or about Dec. 2, 2019, according to court records. Colored edible squares were marked with “THC” on them, according to the affidavit filed by Sublette County Detective Danielle Cooper.

A Sublette Center nurse called her husband, Detective Travis Lanning, after the resident started acting agitated, saying she thought he might have taken THC, the affidavit says. The resident said he had eaten “a handful.”

An unrelated person with power of attorney found the candies in the resident’s pocket and gave them to the nurse and another deputy collected them. They tested positive for THC on Dec. 3, the addidavit continues.

No money exchanged hands, the document states. The Sublette Center resident had asked Ahrens to bring him some THC a couple of months earlier and both talked about bringing THC from Colorado, where it is legal, to Wyoming, where it is totally illegal.

Wyoming has no provisions for medical marijuana or THC.

The felony charge was filed on Jan. 9 in Sublette County Circuit Court and Ahrens is ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 12 at 11 a.m.

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Skier bitten by coyote in Yellowstone

CODY (WNE) — A woman was bitten by a coyote Tuesday morning in Yellowstone Park while she was cross country skiing near Canyon Village.

Witnesses took the 43-year-old woman to the Canyon Visitor Education Center, where rangers provided initial treatment for puncture wounds and lacerations to her head and arm. Rangers transported her to Mammoth Hot Springs by over-snow vehicle, and then she continued on to a medical facility.

Park staff temporarily closed Grand Loop Road near the South Rim Drive when the incident occurred.

Rangers then positively identified and killed the coyote. The coyote is being necropsied and will be tested for rabies.

“Encounters like these are rare, but they can happen. We suspect this coyote may have been starving due to having porcupine quills in its lower jaw and inside its mouth. Its young age likely led to its poor condition and irregular behavior,” said wildlife biologist Doug Smith.

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Gillette woman faces federal charges in meth ring

GILLETTE (WNE) — A 42-year-old Gillette woman accused of being part of a Sinaloa Cartel meth ring remains in Campbell County jail awaiting extradition on federal drug charges.

Local charges against Billie Jo Adams were dismissed last week because of those federal charges, with prosecutors and judges saying it was in the best interest of justice to let the federal indictment take precedence.

Adams had been on the lam for several months before her arrest Dec. 28 in Cheyenne.

She was arrested on a federal warrant, but also on a Circuit Court warrant for defrauding a drug and alcohol test and for violating her probation in District Court for leaving a residential treatment center in Rock Springs in June 2018, where she had been sent as part of her sentence and probation for taking drugs into jail.

Adams, aka Billie Jo Reynolds, was one of 43 people indicted by the federal court in San Diego for their connections to an international meth distribution conspiracy connected to the Mexican cartel, prosecutors alleged in federal court filings unsealed May 21.

Roughly 80 pounds of meth, four guns and more than $100,000 cash were seized, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Southern California said in a statement released May 21.

The vast majority of the defendants live in southern California. Most of them were arrested in May, but Adams was one of 10 people who avoided immediate arrest.

She faces a single count of conspiracy to launder money and a single count of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

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Buffalo again No. 3 for ‘Top Western Towns’

BUFFALO (WNE) — For the second year in a row, Buffalo has been named No. 3 among True West magazine's Top Western Towns behind San Angelo, Texas, and Deadwood, South Dakota.

It's the 15th year that the listing recognizes towns that have preserved their history through old buildings, museums and other institutions; events; and promotion of historic resources.

"Year in and year out, the dedicated community of Buffalo, including its local leaders, merchants, museum directors, docents and volunteers demonstrate through programs, museum exhibitions, hospitality, preservation and tourism a deep understanding and pride in their Western history and heritage," said True West editor Stuart Rosebrook. "The editors of True West magazine applaud the community-wide effort to keep the Old West alive in Buffalo and in doing so, ensures that future generations will appreciate the history and culture of Buffalo and its importance to local, state, regional and national history.”

Buffalo Chamber of Commerce board president Jeremiah Wolski said that the magazine’s broad reach helps generate tourist traffic in the area.

“It brings a lot of people to our community because they want that Western experience,” Wolski said. “Particularly with the European guests, they are really looking for that Western experience, and this exposure helps.”

Since the annual feature debuted in 2006, Buffalo has been a True West Top 10 Town six times: 2020 and 2019 at No. 3; 2018 at No. 2; 2016 at No. 3; 2014 at No. 4; and in 2011 at No. 7, according to True West.