Wyoming

Riverton’s First Northern Arapaho Police Officer Claims Racist, Hostile Treatment

Published

2 years ago

April 23, 2024

Riverton’s First Northern Arapaho Police Officer Claims Racist, Hostile Treatment

The first enrolled Northern Arapaho officer hired by the Riverton Police Department is suing the department alleging racial discrimination, retaliation and the perpetuation of a hostile workplace.

Former RPD Detective Billy Whiteplume’s civil complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming asks for a jury trial, judgment in his favor and monetary compensation for damages stemming from his resignation, which his complaint attributes to the department’s handling of work conflicts.

The complaint alleges that Whiteplume witnessed the department engaging in racially discriminatory practices and complained about those Jan. 4, 2022.

“The Department (released) a Native American male, wearing only his underwear, into the snowing/sleeting, freezing weather,” says the complaint.

Whiteplume complained to his supervisor, RPD Detective Sgt. Eric Smits, about the incident and as far as Whiteplume knew, Smits didn’t address the alleged discrimination, the complaint says.

Whiteplume started a clothing program with his money “to address similar incidents,” the complaint says.

Numerous transient and sometimes homeless people frequent Riverton’s streets and public places. Many of these are Native American. Some have told Cowboy State Daily they have homes and come to Riverton to drink, hang out and avoid their families; whereas some have said they do not have homes.

Reaching Out

In the late winter or spring of 2022, then-RPD Chief Eric Murphy (who has since resigned) reportedly approached Whiteplume and asked Whiteplume to reach out to the executive branch of the Northern Arapaho Tribe to coordinate a meeting between the tribal government, Riverton’s mayor and city administrator, and Murphy.

Whiteplume contacted the tribal government, the Northern Arapaho Business Council, which he says did spark a dialogue between the governing entities.

Smits “verbally reprimanded” the detective for these efforts, and Whiteplume objected to the reprimand, the complaint alleges.

That summer, Whiteplume reportedly told RPD that a dangerous person had escaped from the Wyoming Correctional Facility — presumably the local honor farm — and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs had told Whiteplume that the escapee was fleeing.

Smits reprimanded the detective again, saying he was inciting panic, the complaint alleges, adding that the detective once again objected to the reprimand.

In autumn 2022, Whiteplume noticed a large group of homeless or transient Native American people outside in the freezing weather and snow. He started volunteering to address the problem, including by working to get these people into living facilities so they wouldn’t freeze to death as others have in Riverton, the complaint says.

On Nov. 7, 2022, RPD sent Whiteplume to investigate the case of a Native man who’d frozen to death.

‘Outreach Role’

Whiteplume then started working with several Wind River Indian Reservation-based programs to help the transient or homeless Native Americans, says the document.

His complaint says he viewed his work as part of his RPD outreach role.

On Nov. 18, 2022, Smits reportedly reprimanded Whiteplume for helping transient people all day and neglecting his duties. The lawsuit says the supervisor told Whiteplume there were complaints about him spending too much time on the “homeless issue,” but he didn’t produce specific complaints.

Smits reportedly told Whiteplume to stop working with transients or homeless people.

Once again, Whiteplume objected to being reprimanded, the complaint says.

On Nov. 21, 2022, an RPD Capt. Wes Romero alleged Whiteplume was helping transients on department time rather than his own time in a meeting which Whiteplume’s complaint characterizes as hostile and demeaning.

Around that time, Romero became interim captain. Romero and Smits continued to reprimand Whiteplume, which he alleges they did without legitimate reasons.

Whiteplume believed the department wasn’t doing enough to help Native transients, and he reportedly viewed the department’s chastising of him as discriminatory and retaliatory.

The Drumming Incident

In late 2022, RPD School Resource Officer Scott Christoffersen walked into Whiteplume’s office, picked up a pen on his desk and started drumming on a peanut can with it in a motion matching the drumming of Native American customs in which Whiteplume also participates, the complaint says.

“Is this why you have this?” asked Christoffersen.

Whiteplume viewed the action as offensive and insulting to his faith and culture.

“Are you for real?” asked Whiteplume, reportedly telling the officer twice to leave his office.

The complaint says Whiteplume reported the incident to Smits, but the latter didn’t act on his report.

Some days later, Whiteplume told Smits he wanted no contact with the school resource officer. He then met with both Smits and Christofferson’s supervisor to report Christoffersen’s drumming incident, the document says, adding that Whiteplume asked the officer’s supervisor to keep Christoffersen away from him.

Later, Whiteplume’s own supervisor asked Whiteplume to “smooth things over” with Christoffersen, a request the complaint characterizes as unfitting since Christoffersen allegedly sparked the conflict with his drumming and his comment.

Whiteplume met with the human resources director about the drumming incident. A week passed, and the department took no action against Christoffersen, reportedly.

Whiteplume viewed the department’s conduct as intolerable and subjecting him to a discriminatory and hostile work environment. He gave his two weeks’ notice.

The HR director urged Whiteplume to speak with Christoffersen about the conflict, and said HR would take further action if this sort of action happened again, the complaint says.

The filing indicates Whiteplume did not go and talk to Christoffersen about it, saying, “Whiteplume’s responsibilities and duties did not include disciplining or counseling SRO Christoffersen.”

Whiteplume told the HR director he didn’t feel safe around Christoffersen; she reportedly told him he could work his last two weeks at home, and he could file a grievance.

But when she left a letter on his desk recounting the drum incident, Whiteplume viewed the letter as “downplaying” the incident and calling it “tapping the drum,” says the complaint.

Smits reportedly told the detective he wasn’t supposed to work on his cases at night at home, but to close his cases while in the office.

“This directive made Mr. Whiteplume uncomfortable because he would have to be around people who made him uncomfortable,” says the complaint, listing Smits, Christoffersen and Romero.

Romero called Whiteplume the next day and told him he needed to return to work or he wouldn’t be paid, the complaint says, adding that Whiteplume stayed home anyway because he didn’t feel safe amid the “hostile work environment (that) was increasing in severity.”

The Ask

The complaint alleges three civil violations against RPD: unlawful retaliation in response to protected actions, racial discrimination and harboring a hostile work environment in violation of federal employment law.

Whiteplume is asking for the following:

A jury trial.
For the court to enter judgment against RPD finding it in violation of federal law.
Money damages for back pay, restored benefits, loss of wages, salary, retirement, all loss of income.
Compensatory damages for emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, future monetary losses and loss of compensatory damages.
Reinstatement or front pay.
Attorney fees and costs.
Pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.
For the court to direct RPD to change its alleged “unlawful employment” practices.
To award Whiteplume any other proper relief.

RPD Chief Eric Hurtado did not respond to a message request for comment by publication time Tuesday. Capt. Wes Romero said the department likely would not be able to comment on pending litigation and referred Cowboy State Daily to Riverton City Attorney Rick Sollars.

Sollars’ receptionist informed Cowboy State Daily Sollars does not comment to the media.

Lander-based attorney Kate Strike, of Stanbury and Strike, is listed as Whiteplume’s attorney on the complaint.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

How Wyoming Game Wardens Cracked The Cody Serial Poaching Case

Published

9 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Press Room

How Wyoming Game Wardens Cracked The Cody Serial Poaching Case

For four straight nights, Game Warden Spencer Carstens and a fellow officer sat in an unmarked vehicle at a Cody city park, windows down, staring into the blackness from dusk until 3 a.m.

Nothing happened.

The poaching caper that would become known internally as the “Cody Park Case” had been building since late August 2024, when residents began finding mule deer carcasses in their front yards and floating in a pond at the Park County Complex. The deer body count reached nine.

According to Wyoming Game and Fish, all nine were killed “right in the middle of town where deer like to hang out” by the library, not far from Canal Park and Glendale Park

All shot with a compound bow, all left to rot.

By the time wardens launched their stakeout, and the only lead was grainy security camera footage of a silver car cruising the neighborhood.

The full story of how the case came together is now the subject of an episode of the Wyoming Wildlife Podcast, hosted by Robert Gagliardi, the assistant editor of Wyoming Wildlife magazine. The podcast is a newer offering from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and this particular episode stood out for good reason.

“Our law enforcement stories, those are a fan favorite because they’re very exciting, they’re incredibly interesting, and they do a great job just highlighting just how much work goes into successfully investigating and closing a case like that,” Amanda Fry, public information officer for Wyoming Game and Fish, told Cowboy State Daily.

First Blood

In 2024, the first dead buck appeared in someone’s front yard near a city park, with a blood trail leading across the street and footprints disappearing into the grass. An arrow wound made the cause of death obvious.

“The first thing I kind of thought of was maybe it was a kid,” Carstens recalled for the podcast. A deer in a backyard, shot for fun — that was going to be the end of it.

But then, more reports came in the same day. A second buck, a couple of doors down, also arrowed.

Then a third, in a nearby park, where wardens recovered an arrow — an expandable broadhead fired from a compound bow, a typical hunting setup. Then deer four, five and six. Then number seven, found floating in a pond at the Park County Complex, requiring Carstens to wade out in chest waders to retrieve it.

All nine carcasses — two bucks, six does and a fawn — turned up within a tight radius around the county library and city park, right in the middle of town.

Every animal was shot and abandoned. None were harvested in any way.

“They were just killed and left,” Fry confirmed.

Silver Car

Being in city limits gave wardens tools they rarely get to use. Ring doorbell cameras from cooperative neighbors produced footage of activity on the nights deer were killed. Security cameras at a local business captured a silver car driving slowly up and down the street before parking, and a figure stepping out with a flashlight.

It was the first real break, but the footage was too grainy to identify a make and model, let alone a license plate.

“And of course, it’s one of those deals where there’s just silver cars everywhere you look, once you start looking for them,” Carstens said.

An early lead pointed to a group of teenagers spotted on Ring camera footage running around and riding in the back of a truck. Wardens tracked them down at a local school — only to learn they had been playing a supervised game that night, organized by Cody police. They were ruled out.

With no suspect and deer still turning up dead, Carstens and his team decided to stake out the park. They would sit in the dark and wait.

Forensic evidence was gathered from arrows to catch a serial poacher in Cody (Courtesy: Wyoming Game and Fish)

Fifth Night

By the fifth night of the stakeout, the wardens were running on fumes.

“We’re kind of tired, kind of getting sick of it, trying to figure out what are we going to do next because this isn’t working,” Carstens recalled.

Then they heard it — the unmistakable thwack of a compound bow firing in the darkness, followed by the sound of an arrow hitting flesh.

Using night vision, the wardens looked out into the park. A man was standing there holding a bow, standing over a dead deer.

Carstens crept out of the truck and got as close as he could before making contact. The man bolted.

“I actually get in a foot pursuit with this guy,” Carstens said. “He was a young, pretty fast guy, so he got away from me.”

But the suspect had to have driven there. Wardens fanned out and found the silver car parked about a block away. Peering through the window, they saw an arrow lying on the front seat that matched the one recovered from an earlier crime scene.

And the car was full of fresh groceries.

“Basically went out to get groceries, on his way home decided to pull over and shoot a deer in the park,” Carstens said.

Blood Science

The suspect — later identified as Joshua Tamirat Wielhouwer — fled the state. But wardens had his vehicle and, soon, search warrants for the house where he had been staying. Inside, archery equipment was scattered through multiple rooms. A second vehicle yielded more gear, including a bow and broadheads.

Some of that equipment had blood on it. In some cases, only minuscule traces.

Wardens had also been collecting the deer carcasses and storing them in an evidence freezer. They sent tissue samples from eight of the nine deer to the Wyoming Game & Fish forensics lab, along with every piece of blood-stained archery equipment from the house.

What came back was, in Carstens’ word, “remarkable.”

The lab matched all eight deer to specific pieces of equipment — individual broadheads, arrows and metal inserts — through DNA analysis. Trace amounts of tissue inside a tiny metal arrow insert were enough to tie a specific deer to a specific arrow.

“This is the first case that I’ve worked where we’ve actually been able to take nothing but DNA evidence and make a full case on it,” Carstens said. “Big kudos to the forensics lab. They really helped put this case together. We wouldn’t have a case without them.”

A cell phone search warrant then connected the suspect’s archery equipment to an older case — a beef cow shot with multiple arrows and left to die the year before, a case the Park County Sheriff’s Office had been unable to solve.

Serial Poacher

With a nationwide extraditable warrant issued through the Park County prosecuting office, officers in another state began looking for the suspect. He eventually turned himself in, flew back to Cody and sat in jail for 75 days before posting bail.

A trial was set for February 2025. Before it began, prosecutors and the defense reached a plea deal: guilty on nine of the 18 misdemeanor charges, $18,000 in restitution for the deer and one full year in county jail, with 73 days credited for time served.

The suspect also pleaded guilty to felony destruction of property for the cow, paying restitution to the rancher and accepting three years of supervised probation. All seized archery equipment was forfeited. 

A year behind bars is an unusual outcome for a wildlife case in Wyoming, where penalties more commonly involve fines and revocation of hunting privileges, explained Carstens.

“This guy had never purchased a hunting license in Wyoming,” Carstens said. “He wasn’t really a traditional hunter in the sense that he buys a license, goes out in the field and looks to harvest anything.”

The warden’s best guess at a motive: the suspect was into archery as target shooting and “maybe just wanted to take it to the next level and see what he could do with his bow.”

Forensic evidence was gathered from arrows to catch a serial poacher in Cody — who was also connected to a mutilated cow. (Courtesy: Wyoming Game and Fish)

Team Effort

Carstens credited his fellow wardens and the Game and Fish investigative unit — which considered the dead cow as a possible predator conflict before determining it had been killed by a bow — and the Park County prosecutor’s office.

“This was definitely the most collaborative effort that I’ve been a part of,” Carstens said.

The community played a role too. Neighbors willingly shared security camera footage, and residents who enjoy the town’s urban mule deer herd were eager to see the case resolved.

“Our hope is to cover everything Game and Fish is doing,” Fry said of the Wyoming Wildlife Podcast. “We have terrestrial habitat work, aquatic habitat work, but our law enforcement stories — those are a fan favorite.”

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.

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Wyoming

BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May

Published

21 hours ago

March 23, 2026

Press Room

BLM and Wyoming Honor Farm to Offer Trained Wild Horses and Burros in May

The Wyoming Department of Corrections Wyoming Honor Farm and the Bureau of Land Management have announced they will host an adoption on May 9 in Riverton.

According to a release, for more than 35 years, the Honor Farm has shared the BLM’s commitment to place animals removed from overpopulated herds into good, private homes.

The event will offer saddle-started horses, halter-started yearlings and gentled burros for adoption. Photos of many of the available animals can be seen by following BLM Wyoming on Facebook or X. The organizations are currently developing a Flickr album that will premier in the near future. The horses to be offered all originate from Wyoming public lands.

The Wyoming Honor Farm is located one mile north of Riverton. Take U.S. Highway 26 to Honor Farm Road.

On May 8, gates open at 12:30 p.m. Preview available horses and burros in-person starting at 1:30 p.m. All visitors must be offsite by 3:30 p.m.

On May 9, gates open at 8 a.m. and the competitive-bid adoption begins at 10 a.m.

Both days’ events are free and open to anyone interested in wild horses, the Honor Farm gentling process and the BLM wild horse and burro adoption program.

According to the BLM, it will provide applications and information about how to adopt on both days. The BLM reports the horses and burros are current on their vaccinations, de-worming and Coggins testing. Only covered straight deck or stock type trailers with swing gate and sturdy walls and floors are authorized for loading.

The Wyoming Department of Corrections reports that since 1988, the Honor Farm has helped the BLM place thousands of horses and burros. The WDC has a low recidivism rate, and leadership feels this is largely due to the meaningful work accomplished by the Honor Farm inmates, including the gentling of wild horses. Inmates who are released after working in this program have a greater chance of succeeding in the outside world, according to the WDC.

Refreshments will be available during the event. Ice cream sandwiches will be provided on Friday, May 8. On Saturday, May 9, breakfast and lunch will be available free of charge for attendees.

All members of the public entering the facility will be subject to security checks conducted by GSecurity, including vehicle inspections. For the safety of visitors, staff, and animals – pets, firearms, and alcohol are not allowed on site.

The BLM wishes the public to be aware that cell phones, smart watches, cameras, video equipment and tobacco products must be kept locked in your vehicle while onsite. To maintain a positive environment for visitors, a reasonable clothing standard must be adhered to. Shorts and form-fitting clothing are prohibited.

To learn more about the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program, including adoption requirements, visit blm.gov/whb or contact the national information center at 866-468-7826 or wildhorse@blm.gov.

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