Wyoming News Briefs June 2, 2022

Owner of ammo company ordered to pay $350,000 to feds

LARAMIE (WNE) — The owner of a now-defunct Laramie ammunition manufacturing company will spend time in prison and has been ordered to reimburse more than $350,000 of unpaid federal tax withholdings.

While operating an ammunition manufacturing and sales business in Laramie from 2013-16 under the Ammo Kan brand, Curtis Allan Perry of Windsor, Colorado, failed to pay federal taxes that were withheld from his employees’ paychecks, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Although he withheld federal taxes from his employees’ paychecks, Perry did not pay those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service,” says L. Robert Murray, U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming, in a press release. “Instead, Perry used the unpaid employment taxes to support himself and his business.”

Under a plea agreement, Perry was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by three years of supervised probation and must pay $356,280 in restitution for the unpaid taxes. He also was ordered to pay a $1,200 fine.

He pleaded guilty to 12 counts of tax evasion, and during his sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal also found Perry evaded federal excise taxes on sales of ammunition.

Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office records shows Ammo Kan opened in 2013 and remained in operation into 2016, when the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

This story was published on June 2.

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Men charged with hiding fugitive in kidnap case

GILLETTE (WNE) — Two men were charged for allegedly trying to hide a fugitive who was in Gillette and wanted on a kidnapping warrant out of Alaska.

Joshua L. Richardson, 26, and Clayton R. Salyer, 21, were each bound over to District Court May 19 after Circuit Judge Lynda Bush found probable cause to charge them each with one count of felony accessory after the fact, according to court documents.

Autumn Wilson, 28, was arrested April 19 when she was found hiding behind a residence that Richardson and Salyer had denied Sheriff’s Office deputies entry inside of.

Wilson was wanted for a kidnapping charge out of Alaska after she allegedly took her 2-year-old daughter, who she did not have custody of, and fled Alaska earlier this spring, according to a U.S. Marshals Service statement earlier this month.

The 2-year-old was not with Wilson at the time of her arrest.

The Gillette Police Department helped U.S. marshals find the missing 2-year-old in Gillette on May 6.

Wilson was found after deputies responded around 4:30 a.m. April 19 to a report of two people who were drunk and claiming they were fugitives wanted in Alaska.

This story was published on May 28.

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Woman charged in 2021 fatal wreck

CODY (WNE) — A Cody woman who drove into a local motorcyclist on the South Fork last July has now been charged with negligent homicide in the man’s death.

Megan McCann was charged and ordered to appear June 9 on the misdemeanor charge. She faces up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine if found guilty.

Daniel Tudor of Cody, 61, was killed in the crash after being rear-ended on WYO 291.

According to the accident report, McCann, then 18, was driving west into the sun on the highway in her Mazda 3.

Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Todd Hardesty said in an affidavit that McCann told him the sun was in her eyes and she did not see the motorcycle stopped to make a left turn.

“Witnesses stated that the Mazda had passed several cars that were traveling the speed limit prior to the crash,” Hardesty wrote. “The Mazda struck the motorcycle in the back causing the rider to be thrown from the motorcycle and landing in the eastbound lane.”

Tudor was not wearing a helmet and succumbed to his injuries at the scene of the crash. McCann was wearing a seatbelt and not injured.

This story was published on June 2.

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Hospital OKs tunnel to senior community

JACKSON (WNE) — St. John’s Health is building a tunnel from Sage Living to its main hospital terminal. Although the two buildings are only a parking lot apart, hospital CEO David Robertson said it is “unsafe” to move patients that distance, especially in winter.

“The hill down is a greater than 10% grade. We have already had two employees injured transporting patients that have been out on workers’ comp claims,” Robertson said. “This would eliminate that issue.”

The hospital board approved $5.64 million for the project at its monthly meeting last Thursday. Robertson told trustees there’s a sense of urgency to break ground because the ground the tunnel is slated for is already bare. The proposed site sits under the recently demolished Living Center building, which will soon be paved over for additional parking.

The tunnel was part of the original scope for Sage Living, which was publicly supported by a $17 million Specific Purpose Excise Tax, but was too expensive at the time of construction. By waiting for the Living Center to be demolished, the tunnel is now estimated to be about 40% cheaper to build. It’s also half as long, thanks to some redesigning.

Originally it was going to be a “materials distribution corridor,” Robertson said. Now, the tunnel’s primary purpose is patient transport.

People in the hospital’s inpatient rehabilitation program, which is housed in the Sage Living building, travel to the hospital multiple times per week. Seniors from Sage Living travel monthly.

This story was published on May 31.