Wyoming
Fake $100 Bills Making The Rounds In Wyoming, Counterfeit Pens Don’t Detect Them
CHEYENNE — Patricia Miller was helping another customer when a smooth-talking gentleman came in and quickly grabbed some crystals that he said were a gift for his mom.
“He was trying to small talk with me about how wonderful of a person he was, because he’s getting them for her,” Miller told Cowboy State Daily. “And he’s going to print out information about each one of them, and all this other stuff.”
Miller thought that was sweet and said so, but what happened next was anything but sweet.
“He handed me this $100 bill, and I could feel that something was different,” she said. “And I was looking at it, and I’m like, ‘Well, maybe it’s old?’”
That prompted the man to helpfully add that the bill was from 1996.
That’s when things clicked for Miller.
“Like, who knows what year the bill is that you’re handing a cashier?” she said. “So that’s what really triggered my mind to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is counterfeit.’”
Not wanting to falsely accuse the man — or ignite a confrontation — Miller took a different tack.
“I said to him, ‘I”m sorry, but I don’t have change for this. You’re going to have to maybe get change and come back. Do you have anything smaller?’” Miller said. “And he said, ‘No, I’ll go to Bomgaars and get change.’”
The man never returned for his items.
Later, looking at the store’s video surveillance, Miller saw the man had several recognizable bags with him. When she visited those other stores, it confirmed her suspicion that the $100 bill had been fake.
The same man with the same story and multiple copies of the same $100 bill, all sharing the same serial number, had hit all of the stores.
Same Serial Number All Over Town
Miller’s social media post about the experience drew jeers from some skeptical online commenters who accused her of overreacting.
She posted the bill so others would know what was happening, to prevent anyone from getting duped.
A manager at a discount store on South Greeley Highway in Cheyenne, who asked that her store not be named for corporate reasons, confirmed she’d encountered both the same man and the same $100 bill as Miller.
The man came to the store on South Greeley between the hours of 3:30 and 4 p.m., she said, trying to buy some baby wipes and a gallon jug of water with the $100 — a classic, small-purchase, big-change tactic.
The cashier felt something was off with the bill, but couldn’t identify what. She used a traditional counterfeit detector pen. If the iodine ink, which reacts with starches in standard, wood-pulp paper, remains black, that’s supposed to indicate that a bill is real.
But the manager has learned a different trick to identify counterfeits lately.
“I swabbed it with rubbing alcohol, and the ink smudged,” she said. “So I told him it was fake and we were not going to accept it.”
When the cashier told the man the bill was fake, he said, “Keep it,” and walked out, by then visibly trying to hide his face from the camera.
“That confirms to me that it was fake,” the manager said.
The bill has been turned over to Laramie County Sheriff’s Office for further investigation.
Bleached Bills Fool Counterfeit Pens
The discount store manager said counterfeiters have come up with a smart strategy to fool the traditional iodine counterfeit detector pens.
What they do is bleach a $1 bill, and then print a $100 bill over the top of it. Because it’s genuine currency paper, the iodine pens won’t catch that the bill is fake.
“The counterfeit pens are garbage,” the manager said. “You can write on that and it won’t catch it because it is in fact money paper, just not the right denomination.”
She prefers that her employees use rubbing alcohol to test the ink. If it smudges, that’s a huge red flag.
She also has them hold the bill up to the light, to look for water marks and other security features that $100 bills have that $1 bills do not.
The last check is the texture of the bill itself, which is slightly changed by the bleaching process.
“When we held it up, it did not have a water mark in it,” she said. “It did not have a face in it, and I felt no texture on the bill itself.”
A Prop Money In Riverton
In Riverton, meanwhile, funny money has taken a slightly different tack, with Hollywood-style prop bills circulating around town.
At Blossoms and Boba Cafe, owner Jesica Fritz told Cowboy State Daily a group of children roughly ages 10-13 came in for a shopping spree with what they thought was a genuine $100 bill, given to them by a friendly stranger who had encouraged them to spend all of the money in one place.
“One of the girls who works for us thought it was real at first,” Fritz said. “It did look very realistic, unless you read it and looked closely at it.
“The other girl, my daughter, was like, ‘No, absolutely this is not real. Look, it doesn’t even say, ‘In God we trust.”
Instead the bill said, “In Prop we Trust,” and elsewhere, in tiny fine print, it identified the money as a film prop, not for legal tender.
Fritz said her cafe does use counterfeit detection pens and also trains staff to hold bills up to make sure the paper shimmers correctly, and to look closely at fine print and seals.
“If you’re slammed and super busy and someone just hands one of these to you, I can totally understand why some people would take it as regular money,” she said. “It looks very realistic.”
The children had already paid for their Boba teas before trying to use the fake $100 for extra items. When told the bill wasn’t real, they were crestfallen, but cooperative.
“The kids legitimately believed they had real money, and were super stoked about it,” Fritz said.
Staying Ahead Of Funny Money
Fritz turned the bill over to the Riverton Police Department.
The department did not return Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment, but Fritz said they told her that several other businesses in town had also seen prop money circulating.
Cheyenne police, meanwhile, said it has seven reports of counterfeit bills being passed around at local businesses so far this year.
“The counterfeit bills we encounter the most are $20 and $100 denominations,” said department spokeswoman Alexandra Farkas. “Many of the fake $100 bills are novelty bills intended for film production and are marked with the phrase, ‘For Motion Picture Purposes.’”
That can be easy to overlook during a busy transaction, Farkas acknowledged.
“If counterfeit currency is seized and is not associated with an active local investigation, our Property and Evidence Division will send it to the U.S. Secret Service for further investigation,” she said. “For more information about identifying counterfeit bills, the Secret Service offers educational resources online at www.secretservice.gov.”
By policy, businesses are supposed to try to retain suspicious bills and turn them over to police. But both Miller and the discount store manager admitted they considered their own personal safety first and foremost.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
Wyoming
Wyoming Supreme Court upholds 125- to 175-year conviction for Steven Marler after child sexual abuse trial in 2025
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the 2025 conviction of Steven Randall Marler, 52, who was sentenced to 125 to 175 years in prison on eight felony counts of sexually abusing two girls under his foster or adoptive care at his home on Casper Mountain. Marler was also convicted of five misdemeanor batteries and a count of child endangerment. He was found not guilty of sexual abusing another two other minors in the family, including the one who had first brought forward allegations in 2016.
The Supreme Court opinion noted that discrepancies in her testimony from previous statements were revealed at trial.
The appeal claimed that the Natrona County court where the trial was held improperly admitted testimony about physical abuse and Marler’s insistence that the children give him massages, which they said he referred to as a “daddy tax.”
The massages did not result in charges, and Wyoming courts are strict in disallowing evidence of “prior bad acts” for uncharged conduct that might color the opinion of the jury about whether the defendant is guilty of the actual charges.
The opinion released Friday and written by Justice Robert C. Jarosh noted that the Natrona Court, under Judge Kerri Johnson, had multiple hearings before the trial about whether the state should be allowed to introduce that evidence. It can only do so under specific circumstances, such as establishing a course of conduct relevant to “grooming behavior” and illustrating the power Marler held over the children and his ability and motivation in carrying out the abuse.
“The “daddy tax” massage evidence demonstrated a predictable, recurring pattern of behavior that directly illuminated Mr. Marler’s motive and systematic course of conduct,” the opinion reads. “The “daddy tax” massage evidence demonstrated a clear behavioral pattern and provided relevant context about how Mr. Marler targeted and groomed the children by exploiting his parental role and initiating abuse through seemingly innocent touching — all as a means to gratify his sexual desires.”
The opinion also noted that the jury had been properly instructed not to infer guilt based on the testimony about uncharged behavior they might find off-putting.
The appeal attorneys also argued that evidence of punishment in the form of spanking, exercise and withholding food was not relevant to the charged crimes and unfairly prejudicial to Marler.
“However, we agree with the district court this evidence was relevant to show Mr. Marler’s intent and motive to gain submission by the victims,” Friday’s opinion said.
Related
The 78th National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR) starts on Sunday, July 19, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and goes through Saturday, July 25, 2026. There are 12 rodeo performances across the seven days, with six in the first round and six in the second round. The top 20 cowboys and cowgirls return to the championship short round at 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 25. Wyoming has 51 contestants competing across the 13 rodeo events, plus light rifle and trap shooting.
WYOMING RODEO ATHLETES OPEN COMPETITION AT NHSFR
Yoder’s Hadley Thompson was the All-Around Cowgirl at the 2025 NHSFR. She won national titles in the breakaway roping and goat last year in Rock Springs. Wyoming finished 11th in the team standings last year with 3,750.00 team points. The Cowboy State’s girls placed sixth, and the boys were 25th. Thompson also had the AQHA Horse of the Year for Cowgirls in CD Smokin Miss Kitty. Emeree Tavegie was sixth in pole bending.
The daily rodeo performances are at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. The first go ends after Wednesday morning’s performance, while the second go ends after Saturday morning’s performance.
Wyoming State High School Finals Rodeo Results & NHSFR Qualifiers 2026
Wyoming’s contestants and events with their draw
Ryley Alameda – Reined Cow Horse (Mon AM, Thurs PM)
Wade Asay – Reined Cow Horse (Tues PM, Wed AM)
Claire Bilek – Girls Cutting (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Kolton Bonenberger – Bull Riding (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Jace Bowles – Team Roping (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Cooper Brownlee – Shooting Rifle and Shooting Trap
Blue Butler – Breakaway Roping (Mon AM, Fri PM); Goat Tying (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Kolbe Chant – Tie-Down Roping (Sun PM, Sat AM)
Heston Crozier – Shooting Trap
Blake Cushman – Pole Bending (Sun PM, Sat AM)
Karly Davis – Barrel Racing (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Teague Duncan – Saddle Bronc (Tues PM, Thurs AM)
Memphis Erdman – Shooting Rifle
Hays Espenscheid – Team Roping (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Kendrie Ewing – Barrel Racing (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Ellie Feathers – Shooting Rifle
Kashley Fornstrom – Barrel Racing (Tues PM, Thurs AM)
Kade Fraley – Saddle Bronc (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Landon Gold – Team Roping (Sun PM, Sat AM); Steer Wrestling (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Teague Goodman – Steer Wrestling (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Tanner Griemsman – Team Roping (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Cody Hayden – Boys Cutting (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Rhame Hicks – Goat Tying (Sun PM, Sat AM)
Stone Hooten – Shooting Trap
Coe Hornbuckle – Barrel Racing (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Carter Hutchison – Steer Wrestling (Tues PM, Thurs AM); Tie-Down Roping (Sun PM, Sat AM); Reined Cow Horse (Mon AM, Thurs AM)
Kress Johnson – Team Roping (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Taylor Kimzey – Shooting Rifle
Emma Martin – Pole Bending (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Bella Martinson – Breakaway Roping (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Anna McQueeney – Girls Cutting (Sun PM, Sat AM)
Raden Miller – Steer Wrestling (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Taten Mills – Team Roping (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Owen Monfeldt – Bull Riding (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Ashtyn Noland – Reined Cow Horse (Mon PM, Thurs AM)
Keon Norris – Bareback Riding (Tues PM, Thurs AM)
Riggin Pearce – Bull Riding (Tues PM, Thurs AM)
Bridger Peil – Tie-Down Roping (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Karly Peterson – Girls Cutting (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Nathan Peterson – Boys Cutting (Tues PM, Thurs AM)
Trenton Rogers – Bareback Riding (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Rickie Jo Rourke – Goat Tying (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Tuf Scarborough – Saddle Bronc (Sun PM, Sat AM)
Ty Scarborough – Saddle Bronc (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Stetson St. Clair – Bull Riding (Wed AM, Wed PM); Team Roping (Sun PM, Sat AM)
Whitney Tarver – Team Roping (Mon PM, Fri AM)
Emeree Tavegie – Pole Bending (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Dylan Thar – Breakaway Roping (Tues AM, Thurs PM)
Hadley Thompson – Breakaway Roping (Mon AM, Fri PM); Pole Bending (Tues PM, Thurs AM); Goat Tying (Wed AM, Wed PM)
Cruz Viles – Team Roping (Mon AM, Fri PM)
Tuf Weber – Shooting Trap
The Light Rifle competition is on Tuesday, July 21, and the Short Go is on Wednesday, July 22 at 1:30 p.m. The Trap Shooting competition is on Thursday, July 23, and the Short Go is on Friday, July 24 at 8 a.m. The Reined Cow Horse event will start on Monday, July 20, and go through Thursday, July 23, each day at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. The Reined Cow Horse Championship Short Go is on Friday at 4 p.m. The Cutting Events start on Sunday at 7 p.m., then will run at 9 a.m. from Monday through Friday. The 12th Cutting performance is Saturday, July 25 at 8 a.m. The Cutting Championship Short Go is on Saturday at 2 p.m.
National High School Finals Rodeo
National High School Finals Rodeo
Gallery Credit: Dakota Riddle Photography
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