Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, May 21st. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Community Foundation, who asks you to give back to the place you call home. "5 to thrive" is YOUR opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Support the community nonprofits you care about with a gift through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Visit wycf.org to learn more.

A Wyoming legislative committee agreed Tuesday to draft a bill introducing harsher penalties for adults who stalk children, and another that would make child "grooming" a felony.

The move followed emotional testimonies from the Holman and Sorensen families of Glenrock, whose high-school-age children endured roughly a year of stalking from a 41-year-old woman.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that several members of the Joint Judiciary Committee were themselves moved by the testimony.

"Both families that were victimized, were like, We gotta change this, so that if a grown person is stalking a child, they face a felony. We gotta make that an aggravating factor. And so they went, they went to the management council and urged the management council to just even let it be considered this summer… Representative Webb was crying. He burst into tears, and, you know, addressed the family when they were done. I thought that Representative Kelly looked a little tearful, but when I asked him that in a text message, he told me he was biting the inside of his mouth so he didn't utter profanity."

The committee voted to consider a change to Wyoming's stalking laws so that an adult who stalks a child who is more than three years younger than the adult can be charged with a felony. They also agreed to study an anti-grooming law that Montana passed this year.

Read the full story HERE.

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Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak has a message for criminals who think they're smarter than the entire court system, from law officers to judges to jail guards: "Meth around and find out."

That's what 60-year-old Vance Aulis of Cheyenne did last week. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that what he found out was that while in jail, he shouldn't try to make arrangements to have someone retrieve the giant stash of meth from his car.

"Sheriff Kozak… shared a pretty interesting story about a man on probation for meth related charges, showed up to a court hearing, and the judge… denied his probation, revoked it, he was sent back to the jail, and so while he's in the jail, he's making a phone call, and he doesn't… connect, that in jail, phone calls are not private… the deputy overheard him basically instructing someone on the other end of the line that he needed to go to his car and retrieve the stash of meth that he left in there because he drove to court with a bunch of meth in his car, thinking he'd just be out of court and he can go on and do whatever he's going to do with the meth… And so it's it's just a warning there, just to make sure that when you're on the phone, don't admit other crimes."

In all, about 6 ounces of meth was found, which the sheriff called a large amount, along with other supplies that indicate Aulis likely intended to portion into smaller amounts and sell.

Read the full story

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