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

UNLV Holds on to Defeat Wyoming in 2026 CU1 MW Men’s Basketball Championship

Published

4 hours ago

March 12, 2026

Press Room

A thunderous comeback made for a thrilling opener of the opening game of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Men’s Basketball Championship, but the No. 9 Wyoming Cowboys fell just short of the No. 8 UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, who held on to advance to the quarterfinals, 73-70.

UNLV got out to a 13-point lead by halftime thanks to a dismal shooting half by Wyoming, which shot 12-38 from the field and 2-17 from 3. Wyoming came roaring back in the second half and took the lead at one point, but the Runnin’ Rebels found a way.

“I thought our late-game execution, which has been pretty good for the most part for a lot of this year. We’ve won a lot of close games. We’re 3-0 in overtime. We’ve won a lot of close games, so our late-game execution really was at a high level,” UNLV coach Josh Pastner said. “Obviously, this isn’t a plays game. It’s a players’ game. The guys next to me (Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn and Kimani Hamilton) got the job done, made big shots, and that’s just the bottom line.”

Which was particularly impressive given UNLV star Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn went scoreless in the second period after dropping 15 points in the first. The scoring load and playmaking had to come from elsewhere after Wyoming guard Damarion Dennis locked Gibbs-Lawhorn down.

Down the stretch, that came mostly from Kimani Hamilton, who Gibbs-Lawhorn told to take over late.

A wild turnaround jumper by Hamilton, along with some massive free throws in the pressure cooker — including two with two seconds left to take an insurmountable three-point lead — kept UNLV just out of reach of Wyoming.

“Earlier in the year, things just happened to go my way, but there are multiple people on this team that can do the same thing, if not better than I can,” Gibbs-Lawson said. “When you have Kimani playing more than 30 minutes a game, it’s going to be hard to beat us with how locked in we’ve been defensively. Walter Brown, Tyrin Jones, they made some big plays, blocks and steals tonight.

“(If) We continue playing how we played defensively, then I think we have a good shot at this thing.”

But perhaps no play was bigger than Tyrin Jones’s final of six blocks on the night: up a point with less than 10 seconds left, Wyoming missed a jumper and got an offensive rebound. On the putback, Jones rose to the rafters for a block on Damarion Dennis, who had a double-double and led the comeback effort. In the moment, the crowd pleaded for a goaltending call, but he got to the ball just in time.

To go with seven points and five rebounds, his six blocks were tied for the fourth-most in an MW tournament game.

“I was debating if I could try to have him pump fake twice, but he got it up quick,” Jones said. “I got just enough and I was thankful to get it out of the sky, then it ended up in our hands. … I just knew my timing was going to be enough just to get it right at that top, peak moment.”

The Runnin’ Rebels will meet No. 1 Utah State in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

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Wyoming

Group asks judge to restore abortion rights, block Human Heartbeat Act

Published

16 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Group asks judge to restore abortion rights, block Human Heartbeat Act

A group of abortion access advocates are asking the Natrona County District Court to block the Human Heartbeat Act. The law went into effect on March 9 and bans most abortions at six weeks.

That’s because cardiac activity can be detected with a transvaginal ultrasound at about six weeks — a time when abortion advocates say many people don’t know they’re pregnant yet.

The motion to the court states that the new law involves the same “fundamental problem” as other abortion-related laws already being considered by the court.

They are asking to add the law to an ongoing case over separate laws, which would require building renovations at abortion clinics and require transvaginal ultrasounds 48 hours before an abortion. Both of those laws have been temporarily blocked.

“[The Human Heartbeat Act] transgresses the constitutional guarantee of Plaintiffs’ and individuals’ to make health care decisions without interference from the government,” says the document filed on the afternoon of March 10 by Robinson Bramlet LLC.

Wyoming Public Radio obtained the filing from Chelsea’s Fund, an abortion-rights nonprofit and one of the plaintiffs in the case — part of the same group that has been challenging the state for years to protect abortion access.

They recently won their case in the Wyoming Supreme Court, when the majority of justices decided to strike down two near-total abortion laws enacted in 2024, saying they violated residents’ right to make their own healthcare decisions, which is specifically protected in the Wyoming Constitution.

The Legislature quickly got to work on more anti-abortion legislation, such as the Human Heartbeat Act, which Gov. Mark Gordon signed on March 9. It carries an exception for cases where the health of the mother is in jeopardy, but not for rape or incest victims, which Gordon called an “unfortunate flaw.”

Chelsea’s Fund Executive Director Janean Forsyth said she was disappointed the state again restricted access to “vital care.”

“I’m thinking about everyone from the 15 year old that we supported, whose grandmother actually reached out, a victim of sexual assault,” Forsyth said. “I’m thinking about a family with a very wanted pregnancy that we supported in eventually seeking an abortion for a severe fetal anomaly.”

Forsyth added that abortion laws like this result in medical providers leaving the state.

“So it’s not only affecting access to abortion care, it’s affecting reproductive healthcare access generally for parents and children, which is really unfortunate,” she said.

Wellspring Health Access in Casper, the state’s only abortion clinic, is cancelling appointments with patients seeking to end their pregnancies later in their term, according to Executive Director Katie Knutter.

Speaker of the House Chip Neiman (R-Hulett) sponsored the law. He said he wasn’t surprised it was met with legal action, as that’s been the trend in recent years.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” Neiman said in a voicemail to Wyoming Public Radio after the lawsuit was filed. “And we’re going to move ahead and the people of the Legislature, Wyoming has spoken.”

Lawmakers decided against putting the issue directly before Wyoming voters as a constitutional amendment this fall. That’s after Gordon urged them to do so to end the legal cycle.

Neiman couldn’t be reached by publication time to comment on the decision to not pursue a constitutional amendment, but in a Jan. 26 town hall, he expressed worries that voters could codify the right to abortion.

In 2024, 64% of Nevada voters supported enshrining the right into the state constitution. A majority will have to vote in favor again later this year to recognize the right.

In his voicemail, Neiman added, “There’s folks out there that are completely good with killing kids, killing babies in the womb, and there’s other folks out here like the Legislature that are fighting desperately to preserve their lives.”

The abortion-rights group said it will ask the court to issue a temporary restraining order and block the new law while the legal challenge proceeds.

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Wyoming

Wyoming Coaches Pick the Best of 1A & 2A Boys Basketball in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming Coaches Pick the Best of 1A & 2A Boys Basketball in 2026

The top boys’ basketball players in Wyoming for Classes 1A and 2A were chosen for the 2026 high school season. The Wyoming Coaches Association has unveiled the all-state awards for this year, as voted on by the head coaches in the two classifications, respectively. The Wyoming Coaches Association only recognizes one team for all-state, and only these players receive an award certificate from the WCA. WyoPreps only lists all-state players as defined by the WCA.

WCA 1A-2A BOYS BASKETBALL ALL-STATE SELECTIONS IN 2026

Each class selected 14 players for all-state, reflecting a broad recognition of talent across Wyoming. Notably, congratulations go to Hulett’s Kyle Smith, Brady Cook from Lingle-Fort Laramie, and Carsten Freeburg from Pine Bluffs, who earned all-state honors for the third straight year. In addition, eight more players achieved all-state status for the second time in their prep careers.

Class 1A

Paul McNiven – Burlington

Bitner Philpott – Burlington

Ammon Hatch – Cokeville (All-State in 2025)

Hudson Himmerich – Cokeville

Kyle Smith – Hulett (All-State 2024 & 2025)

Anthony Arnusch – Lingle-Ft. Laramie

Brady Cook – Lingle-Ft. Laramie (All-State 2024 & 2025)

Tymber Cozzens – Little Snake River (All-State in 2025)

Corbin Matthews – Lusk

Max Potas – Meeteetse (All-State in 2024)

Jace Westring – Saratoga

Hazen Williams – Saratoga

TJ Moats – Southeast (All-State in 2024)

Nic Schiller – Upton

Read More Boys Basketball News from WyoPreps

WyoPreps 1A-2A State Basketball Scoreboard 2026

WyoPreps 3A-4A Regional Basketball Scoreboard 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Final Basketball Poll 2026

1A-2A Boys Basketball Regional Scoreboard 2026

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 11 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-25-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 10 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-18-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 9 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-11-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 8 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-4-26

Class 2A

Caleb Adsit – Big Horn

Chase Garber – Big Horn

Carsten Freeburg – Pine Bluffs (All-State 2024 & 2025)

Mason Moss – Rocky Mountain

Oakley Hicks – Shoshoni

Kade Mills – Sundance

Cody Bomengen – Thermopolis (All-State in 2025)

Zak Hastie – Thermopolis

Ellis Webber – Thermopolis (All-State in 2025)

Joseph Kimbrell – Wright

Mitchell Strohschein – Wright (All-State in 2025)

Adriano Brown – Wyoming Indian

Heeyei’Niitou Monroe-Black – Wyoming Indian (All-State in 2025)

Cordell Spoonhunter – Wyoming Indian

The 2026 state champions were the Saratoga Panthers in Class 1A. They beat Lingle-Fort Laramie, 50-45, in the championship game. The 2A winners were the Thermopolis Bobcats, who repeated as champions, after a 45-38 victory over Wyoming Indian in the title game.