Wyoming

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

Published

1 week 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

Wyoming Man Says He Tried To Gun Down Relatives Because He Was ‘Pretty Mad’

Published

5 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Press Room

Wyoming Man Says He Tried To Gun Down Relatives Because He Was ‘Pretty Mad’

RAWLINS — A 74-year-old Rawlins, Wyoming, man confessed Friday to shooting his nephew and his nephew’s wife in an attempt to kill them both last year because he was “pretty mad.”

Melvin Bagley sat hunched in a grey and white jail-issue jumpsuit, turned away from the third-floor windows of the Carbon County District Court room at his change of plea hearing.

Barely visible outside, the tops of the spruce trees leaned away from the wind.

Bagley’s nephew Marvin “JR” Bagley and Marvin’s wife Stephanie sat in the second bench on the prosecutor’s side of the courtroom. They’re generally healed up from the bullets that tore through Marvin’s face and hand, and through Stephanie’s shoulder, on Sept. 3, 2023, the couple said.

On that date, Melvin Bagley pulled his truck up next to theirs on the couple’s ranch near Bairoil and opened fire. Melvin Bagley had been struggling with dementia for a long while, and Marvin and Stephanie had struggled to rein in his paranoid outbursts, Stephanie told Cowboy State Daily earlier in this case.

During the melee, Marvin found a .22 revolver he keeps in his truck and fired back. Then he sped off in his own truck and made a snap decision to break through his gate to escape. Later, he flagged down a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper by waving his bloody hand out the window.

What The Plea Agreement Says

“I’m here to plead,” said Melvin Bagley on Friday when Carbon County District Court Judge Dawnessa Snyder asked him if he understood why he was there.

He wore headphones so he could hear the judge. Squinting, he spoke softly with a Southern accent and answered most of the judge’s questions with a nod and a truncated “yeh.”

Melvin Bagley’s plea agreement says he will have his other charges — aggravated assault and reckless driving — dropped in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of attempted second-degree murder. His defense attorney Sergio Lemus and prosecutor Carbon County Attorney Sarah Chavez Harkins have agreed upon a sentence of 20-40 years in prison, Snyder said.

The judge doesn’t have to accept the plea agreement, she warned, adding that judges nevertheless regard those recommendations with respect.

Melvin Bagley may also have to pay restitution.

Marvin, left, and Stephanie Bagley (Courtesy Photos)

The Confession

“Tell me what happened,” said Snyder.

“Well, I shot my nephew and his wife,” said Melvin Bagley, leaning forward toward the microphone on the defense table.

Snyder asked if he intended to kill them.

“At the time I was pretty mad,” Melvin Bagley said.

Harkins elaborated, saying Melvin Bagley suspected his family members of stealing money from him, a fact that was never proven, and he went to them and shot them both. Later, he told investigators he was trying to kill them, said the prosecutor.

Both Lemus and Snyder were satisfied that this evidence would support Bagley’s pleas, and Snyder accepted both guilty pleas and entered convictions against him.

Melvin Bagley will be sentenced in about 90 days, after a probation agent conducts a report on his history and character, and at that time Snyder will decide if she’s going to accept Bagley’s plea agreement, the judge said.

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

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Wyoming

JCC’s Kirk Young Leaving to Become President of Western Wyoming Community College

Published

12 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Press Room

Kirk Young

A Wyoming news organization is reporting that JCC’s Vice President of Student Affairs is taking a job at Western Wyoming Community College.

Sweetwater NOW reports the Western Wyoming Community College Board of Trustees has hired Kirk Young to be the college’s next president after a unanimous vote last week.

Young’s first day will be July 1.

His salary will be $205,000 a year and benefits include a $1,500 per month housing allowance, a $800 per month vehicle allowance, and a $16,500 relocation allowance.

Young started his job as the Vice President of Enrollment, Marketing, and Communications at Jamestown Community College in August 2014.

He previously worked as the assistant vice president for recruitment and outreach at Utah Valley University.

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Wyoming

Cowboy State Daily Video News: Friday, May 3, 2024

Published

18 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Press Room

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming! I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom, for Friday, May 3rd.

Six people became stuck on Highway 212 near Cooke City for 10 hours when Google sent their two-wheel-drive vehicle on a closed, snowpacked road. The tourists somehow missed the ‘road closed’ sign and the massive amount of snow.

And Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi points out that the tow truck driver from Cody who rescued the family was not surprised at all.

“It was a family that was determined to get to Yellowstone. They knew the east entrance was closed, but they thought that the north entrance road, or the Northeast entrance road was open, which isn’t wrong. It is open at this time of year. There’s just that nine mile gap between the east entrance and the entrance to the Beartooth highway that isn’t plowed. So they got caught in a snowstorm up there, at around midnight of all times, and they got stuck in the snow and they were stuck there for 10 hours until Zac Beardall out of Cody could come and rescue them. So it’s not that uncommon – he said for this time of year, close to the opening of the park, people don’t know what to expect, or they don’t anticipate that there’s still going to be winter conditions in the mountain.”

The East and South entrances of Yellowstone are scheduled to open Friday morning, weather permitting. As the days progress, more melting snow should make the roads leading to the park less hazardous.

Peabody Energy Corporation, which runs the world’s most productive coal mine in northeastern Wyoming, saw its profit slip 79% from a year ago as production in the region’s surface mining operations sunk to one of its lowest levels in a decade.

Peabody operates three mines in the Cowboy State’s coal-rich Powder River Basin, and all are displaying similar performance, according to Energy reporter Pat Maio.

“The guidance going forward, like into the second quarter, they’re saying like 15 ½ million tons is what they’re forecasting, which is down rather significantly. I think 30 million tons was the high mark back around ‘14 or ‘15, that period, and which was probably when most of the mine, or coal, was pulled out of that area.”

If the steep declines continue, Maio reports that the loss of those mineral revenues could impact the state budget.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman’s campaign wants Wyoming Senate candidate Reid Rasner to stop making social posts that the campaign believes are meant to lead people to think she is supporting and endorsing his campaign against U.S. Sen. John Barrasso.

Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson obtained a cease and desist letter sent by Representative Hageman’s attorney, which states very clearly that Rasner does not have her endorsement. But he says Rasner has been prolific – and creative – in his attempts to link his campaign to her office.

“Some of the posts include messages such as ‘Hang on, Harriet, I am on my way, the Wyoming congressional delegation 2024 is getting stronger.’ A different variation of the same post says ‘The Rasner-Hageman duo will crush the deep state.’ What’s also important to note with all these posts is that he’s in the photo with each of these posts, posing with Hageman at an event from a few months ago. So it’s yet to be seen what will happen with this, but it’s probably not a positive thing for the Rasner campaign, considering Hageman’s strong popularity in Wyoming.”

Hageman has not endorsed any candidate in the U.S. Senate race at this time.

The Casper Hall of Justice was evacuated and shut down for several hours Thursday because of a suspicious package.

Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the building houses the Casper Police Department, Natrona County Sheriff’s Office and Natrona County District Attorney’s offices.

“The Hall of Justice in Casper was locked down and evacuated for a couple hours today starting just before noon, because of a suspicious package that arrived at the Hall of Justice. And some members of the special response team that deal with hazardous materials showed up, went into the building. And after a couple hours, everything was decided, it was an all clear.”

This was the second Wyoming courthouse in three days closed for a potential threat. A hazardous materials threat prompted an evacuation of the Campbell County Courthouse in Gillette on Tuesday. Whether the Casper and Gillette courthouse incidents could be related wasn’t known at the time this story was published.

A man who in 2021 unleashed a meth-fueled violent crime rampage on homeowners and hunters in Douglas was denied a new trial by the Wyoming Supreme Court on Thursday.

Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 43-year-old Solomon Preston Bolen is now serving 30-40 years in prison for the shooting, but is appealing the Wyoming Supreme Court, arguing that his attorney didn’t serve him well enough at trial.

“Court documents described just a bombastic crime spree, where Bolen is shooting two different hunters through their legs with one bullet, during sort of a truck chase in a circular driveway and is ripping through fields and stealing guns and breaking into homes and asking everyone wild questions. His argument was that his lawyer, and his trial judge should have put the question to the jury whether he could not be considered guilty, because he was essentially crazy at the time that he committed these crimes.”

Wyoming defendants can’t be found not guilty for mental incompetence if their mental incompetence was primarily self-induced – in this case, fueled by the amounts of methamphetamines Bolen had used prior to the incident.

The MVP of Tuesday night’s Major League Baseball game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers was Matt Hilton. But don’t bother looking for the 37-year-old right-hander on either team’s roster.

Hilton, who grew up in Buffalo, Wyoming, is the hero beekeeper who saved Tuesday’s game from 20,000 Africanized bees.

Cowboy State Daily’s Jake Nichols spoke with Matt about the team’s need for his unique skills.

“Are we surprised it took a guy from Wyoming to get the show on the road at Chase Field? Probably not. It might have been a little enlightening to learn a swarm of bees could actually pose some level of threat to baseball fans. But I think the real eye opener in this story is the fact that Chase Field, home of the world champion Arizona Diamondbacks, has a pest control company on call 24/7 for just such an emergency. Brilliant.”

After completing his task Tuesday to a standing ovation, Hilton was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

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