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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>You Still Here? Wednesday, August 16, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

You Still Here? Wednesday, August 16, 2023

 One of the best live reports we've ever seen (even though we have no idea what he's saying)...

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

Editor's note: The subject matter of this story is sensitive and may be disturbing for some readers. Read at your discretion.

A Douglas man facing up to 791 years in prison on 72 felony charges alleging sexual abuse of minors, including possessing and making child pornography, was released on his own recognizance by a Colorado court Thursday after he was arrested on a fugitive warrant out of Wyoming.

John Charles Smallbone, 38, appeared in Larimer County Court in Fort Collins before Magistrate Heather Siegel on Thursday after he was arrested on the outstanding Converse County warrant the day before, according to the court and the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

Instead of being held for transport on the Wyoming fugitive warrant, Smallbone walked out of jail on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond.

He couldn’t be held because the extradition paperwork, which was sent to the Colorado court by 9:30 a.m. Thursday apparently wasn’t filed with the court before Smallbone’s hearing.

Now, instead of having a man accused of committing dozens of illegal sex acts with kids in custody, “We’re out looking for him again,” said Converse County Undersheriff Chris Walsh. “And we’re going to find him again. The freedom clock on him is running out.”

Walsh said whatever snafu unfolded to allow a wanted man to be released didn’t happen on Converse County’s end of the transaction. He was just as surprised as everyone else to learn Smallbone was released.

“We’d been working with investigators there in Larimer County; we provided them with all of our warrant information, all our affidavits,” Walsh told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.

“Whatever happened, he ended up getting released,” he said, adding that the sheriff’s office in Colorado gave his agency “great cooperation” and any mix-up likely happened at the court level.

“I feel like we did everything on our end we could do” to get Smallbone back to Wyoming, he said. “But we can’t file anything in a Colorado court.”

Smallbone is supposed to be in Converse County District Court on Tuesday for an arraignment on the 72 felonies he faces, according to court records.

Asked whether he expects Smallbone to be at that hearing, Walsh replied, “I’m not going to hold my breath.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We Couldn’t Believe It’"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A message left for Magistrate Siegel wasn’t returned by publication."}]

The Converse County Attorney’s Office responded that it has a policy of not commenting on active cases, stating that his arraignment is set for Tuesday and that “our office expects him to appear for that court date.”

Kelsey Crandall was watching a livestream of Smallbone’s hearing Thursday and said she was “absolutely floored” when she realized he would be walking out of jail.

“Me and my coworkers were watching it, and we couldn’t believe it,” she told Cowboy State Daily on Friday.

Crandall said she knows Smallbone, but not well. She and the others are interested in the case “because this is a small town and we have families.”

“We’re here in Douglas, and I know this man,” she added. “My understanding from the hearing is Converse County did send (the proper paperwork) in, but it was not processed … in Colorado in time.”

Cowboy State Daily talked to another person who watched the livestream of the hearing who corroborated Crandall’s account.

Along with the magistrate who was presiding over the hearing, Crandall said that even Smallbone “seemed kind of confused.”

She also said it appeared the magistrate had to agree with Smallbone’s defense attorney, who argued for the PR bond.

“The judge did say that she agrees with the defense that it was not processed correctly through their court,” Crandall said.

She also said Smallbone assured the Colorado magistrate that if given a PR bond, he’d return to Wyoming for his Tuesday hearing, along with another one in Colorado set for him on Thursday, per an order by the magistrate.

“I know him from our town, and I’ve worked with him previously,” Crandall said, adding that she watched the hearing “truly, honestly, just because I’m nosy.

“But it’s happening in our small community, and the victims of his (alleged) crimes, I’m friends with a parent.”

Like Undersheriff Walsh, Crandall isn’t holding her breath for Smallbone to show up for court Tuesday.

“I have a good feeling he won’t,” she said. “I can’t imagine him showing up.”

A call to Smallbone’s Converse County public defender wasn’t returned by publication.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"That’s A Lot Of Cash"}]

The apparent error with the Colorado court isn’t the first time Walsh has been surprised by Smallbone and the case against him.

He was able to abscond to another state because he posted a $250,000 cash bond in his Converse County case — and did so when someone on his behalf walked into the Converse County Detention Center on June 24 with a quarter of a million dollars in cash.

“That surprised me as well, definitely a surprising twist,” Walsh said, adding that he was surprised again Thursday. “I was shocked. I’m still shocked.”

While there is speculation about whether Smallbone will show up for court next week, he told a Wyoming district court judge he would in a letter begging for his $250,000 bond to be reduced or to be let out on his own recognizance.

“I am writing to respectfully request a reconsideration of my bond conditions in light of recent developments that have significantly affected my family’s situation,” he says in a handwritten letter dated June 18.

The letter was written six days before someone walked in with $250,000 cash to bond him out of jail.

“I understand the seriousness of my circumstances, but I ask you to take into account the following factors as you consider my request,” Smallbone wrote.

Those include the potential to lose his family’s home at a time when his wife is suffering PTSD because of his prosecution.

He also wrote that being incarcerated is “jeopardizing my business, which is crucial for supporting my family. Losing my business would exacerbate our financial and emotional stress.”

“Personal safety concerns” is another reason, he wrote. “My wife and I have received specific death threats, creating a climate of fear and anxiety that affects our daily lives.

[{"type":"text","text":"“This environment is not cooperating with legals proceedings.”"}]

Smallbone also specifically highlights his “willingness to comply” and that he was “fully prepared to adhere to any conditions set forth by the court.”

He apparently wasn’t, Walsh noted, because he was wanted on the fugitive warrant because “he did violate terms of his bond.”

In a short response to Smallbone’s letter, Judge Scott Peasley said communicating directly with the judge in his case is improper and he won’t consider it.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"On The Radar"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The list of charges against Smallbone is long, including:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• 1 count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• 36 counts of possessing child pornography."}]

• 16 counts of using a video camera to record intimate areas of another person without consent.

• 18 counts of knowingly manufacturing, generating, or creating child pornography.

[{"type":"text","text":"• 1 count of possessing more than 3 ounces of marijuana (1.3 pounds)."}]

He landed on the radar of the Converse County Sheriff’s Office after the mother of an underage girl reported concerning interactions her daughter had with Smallbone on May 9.

The girl was in a vehicle with Smallbone and others when he allegedly typed “if you suck me, I’ll lick you” on his phone and showed it to the girl, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Lt. Benjamin K.P. Peech of the Converse County Sheriff’s Office.

“He also mouthed the words, ‘I want to see you naked,’” the affidavit says.

Smallbone later denied mouthing anything or showing the girl any messages.

That, along with other alleged disturbing interactions with the girl at Smallbone’s home that evening, started an investigation that revealed a trove of photos, videos and other child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his electronic devices, the affidavit says.

The investigation also showed Smallbone had been convicted in 2002 of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust in Douglas County, Colorado.

He also had registered as a sex offender in Wyoming in 2014, but it was “later determined not to be required to register in Wyoming due to him being a juvenile at the time of his adjudication in Colorado,” according to the affidavit.

That was in reference to a 2001 case when Smallbone was 12 and was accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl, the affidavit says.

While in treatment for that incident, he disclosed he also had sexual contact with at least seven other children up to that point in his life, and five were younger than him at the time of the sexual contact.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What Investigators Found"}]

The case against Smallbone exploded when forensic examinations were performed on his cellphone and electronic devices, according to the affidavit.

On them, they found dozens of images and videos depicting prepubescent girls and boys performing a wide range of sex acts, the affidavit says. Many of the videos appear to have been created by Smallbone in rooms and spaces that are identifiable to alleged potential victims.

There also were videos of Smallbone having sex with an adult female, the affidavit says, adding that the woman told investigators she had no knowledge she was on camera.

The most disturbing allegations stem from a series of at least seven videos that the affidavit reports allegedly show a young girl having her pants pulled down and being subjected to having sex with a dog.

Along with the CSAM, investigators say they found “records indicating (his phone) had been used to connect to the Tor Browser, which is commonly used by subjects accessing CSAM to communicate within the Dark Web anonymously,” the affidavit says.

If convicted with maximum concurrent sentences, Smallbone could face up to 791 years in prison and fines of up to $710,000.

The most serious is the sexual abuse of a minor charge, which calls for a sentence of between 25 and 50 years.

John Smallbone 7 24 26

<title>Colorado Court Releases Wyoming Man Wanted On 72 Child Sex Abuse Charges | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Douglas man wanted on 72 felony charges alleging sex abuse of minors was released on his own accord by a Colorado court Thursday instead of being held for Wyoming authorities. “We’re out looking for him again,” said the Converse County undersheriff.

Colorado Court Releases Wyoming Man Wanted On 72 Child Sex Abuse Charges

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Politics

Government & Politics

A Republican U.S. House candidate debate Thursday night in Casper featured both direct and subtle jabs, recurring speech patterns, bragging points and just a couple moderator interventions.

Nine candidates are running to win the GOP nomination to Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat at the Aug. 18 primary election. 

Eight of those – not Keith Goodenough – answered questions Thursday night at Casper College in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Wyoming, WyoFile, and Wyoming Public Media.  

The eight attending were: Philanthropist Steve Friess, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, state Senate President Bo Biteman, veteran and former congressional staffer David Giralt, veteran and former High Plains-District BLM leader Kevin Christensen, actor and singer Richard Dodson, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, and Casper businessman Reid Rasner.

Friess in his closing statements asserted the race is actually between two people.

His campaign spokesman Tim Edson confirmed Friday that Friess was talking about himself and Gray.

"Our internal polling shows it is now a two-person race between Steve Friess and Chuck Gray - tied at 16%, with the rest of the field lagging behind," wrote Edson. "Despite 100% name awareness, Chuck struggles to get above 20% in his own polling -- because his unfavorable ratings are astronomically high. Steve Friess is now tied with Chuck Gray, has the momentum, and will overtake him by August 18th."  

[{"type":"text","text":"Friess noted that a candidate was missing from the stage that night."}]

Teton County-based attorney Frank Chapman dropped out of the race that morning, casting it as a waste of multiple people’s money for him to continue in a race with so much “clutter.”

“I believe that’s because he’s been looking at the same polling I’ve seen,” said Friess, “which really shows that this is now a two-man race. The polling shows it quite clearly.”

Rasner apparently disagreed, proclaiming himself the winner of the debate in a Thursday announcement. 

Friess leveled a subtle jab at career politicians and said, “We need someone with a businessman’s point of view who will solve problems in Washington, and not a career politician.”

With Chapman’s departure, Friess is now among three candidates, with Gray and Rasner, who have loaned more than $1 million to their own campaigns.

[{"type":"text","text":"Other candidates derided the practice."}]

The candidates with war chests under $200,000 as of July 1 - Christensen, Dodson, Giralt, Balow, and Biteman – all placed the emphasis on connecting with the people rather than pouring money into the race.

Rasner, who’s loaned himself at least $1.7 million and spent around $2 million, pointed to the individual contributions he’s also won across Wyoming.

Friess has the most financial momentum. He acknowledged he’s self-loaned considerable sums – at least $2 million as of July 1 – but has also raised over $400,000 from individual contributors.

He said he raised that money because he cares deeply about the opportunity to serve the state and would ban stock trading in Washington, D.C.

“I’m not going there to get more money. I’m going there because it’s an opportunity to serve,” said Friess. “Our family’s had a tradition of doing so.”

In response to Friess's claim and polling numbers, Gray said Friday: that Friess "thinks he can trick Wyoming from Jackson Hole."

Friess lives in Jackson, as did his late father Foster Friess, who lost in a three-way race to Gov. Mark Gordon in the latter's first run for the seat in 2018. 

Gray said Friess is falsely stating his position in this race and has shown "how desperate he is with his out of touch campaign." 

[{"type":"text","text":"Please Don’t"}]

In opening the forum, WyoFile executive editor Matt Copeland warned all participants they could face removal if they weren’t respectful and courteous, and if they personally attacked or sparred directly with the other candidates.

One introductory prompt and two questions later, Copeland warned Gray for breaking the rules.

Gray attacked both WyoFile and Rasner, claiming WyoFile “has millions of false attacks” on its website over the years and Rasner “has put thousands of dollars of false attacks” against him.”

“But like President Trump –“ Gray continued, then Copeland cut him off.

“Mr. Gray. Please don’t address your fellow candidates,” said Copeland.

Gray pressed on, saying, “I’m not spending as much as Mr. Friess over there with the Jackson element …"

[{"type":"text","text":"Again Copeland intervened with a warning."}]

“But I am going to spend to take on the radical media and the insiders,” Gray said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Boos sounded from the audience."}]

Copeland in a brief Friday phone interview denied both the “insider” charge and the false reporting charge.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Absolutely not,” he said of the latter claim."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Media, Insiders"}]

The media and an unspecified group of “insiders” dominated many of Gray’s points that night.

He used either the word “insider” or “insiders” 12 times, though one was a specific reference to the problem of insider trading in Congress. He used the word “media” nine times.

He used the term “track record” eight times, referencing his work in state government.

[{"type":"text","text":"Rasner picked up on the trend and fired back at Gray."}]

“Cheyenne and Washington, D.C., are full of politicians with a proven track record,” said Rasner in his closing speech. “A proven track record in Cheyenne or D.C. means nothing. I have a proven track record in Wyoming, in business. Of signing both sides of the checks.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Rasner runs Casper-based financial advisor business Omnivest Financial."}]

While Rasner was more subtle than Gray and was not warned for civility, he did take another oblique shot, referencing occasions when a state land management board voted – as did Gray – in favor of leasing state public lands to wind farms.

Gray repeatedly derides wind power as “woke” and wrong for Wyoming, and after his three “aye" votes, he became one of the state’s most vocal critics against two bigger, foreign-backed wind projects on state lands.

[{"type":"text","text":"Workhorse, Roots"}]

Biteman’s go-to term was “work,” which recurred in his points at least seven times.

He pointed to his decade in the state Legislature and term as Senate president, as well as his career as a landman.

“I’m a workhorse, not a show horse. I’m not going to Congress to be famous, to get on Fox News or to shoot off press releases every day,” said Biteman.

Balow pointed to her Wyoming roots and upbringing, her earlier work with the late U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, and how she handled Wyoming’s schools during COVID.

Christensen was the only candidate who wanted to reform, rather than rescind, the Clinton-era Roadless Rule for public lands.

Everyone proposed means, some varying, for rescuing the Social Security system.

Gray friess 7 24 26

<title>Steve Friess Says Wyoming U.S. House Race A 'Two-Man Race' Now | Cowboy State Daily</title>

U.S. House candidate Steve Friess concluded the Thursday-night debate by saying polling shows the Wyoming GOP race is really between two people — himself and Chuck Gray. "[Gray's] unfavorable ratings are astronomically high," a campaign spokesman said.

Steve Friess Says Wyoming U.S. House Race A 'Two-Man Race' Now

Gillette Fourth of July Parade participants not being allowed to hand out Bibles and copies of the U.S. Constitution has prompted a complaint to the Campbell County Commission. 

State House Appropriations Chairman John Bear, R-Gillette, asserts in 

 that community groups “were barred by Campbell County Parks & Recreation officials from handing out U.S. Constitutions and Bibles during the Independence Day 250 parade.”

Campbell County Parks officials say they were merely enforcing a rule against handing out paper products at the parade, adopted around 2021 to curb trash cleanup after the event.

Bear wrote in the same column that a few towns away, Lander’s local LGBT advocacy group handed out condoms to parade-goers and kids.

“Since when are free condoms protected by the Constitution while Bibles are not?” asked Bear in the column.

Organizers of the Lander parade’s Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) float adamantly deny handing out condoms.

Carol Smith in an open letter to Bear, which she sent to Cowboy State Daily, says she was on that float, and no one on it handed out condoms.

“We handed out candy to children and celebrated inclusion with the community, just as we have in previous years,” wrote Smith, who reiterated the point in a phone interview this week.

Sarah Reilley, who said she’s driven the float for three years but couldn’t attend the parade this year, told Cowboy State Daily she would never have handed out condoms.

“Absolutely not,” said Reilley in an interview. She wrote in a Facebook post last week that doing that would have been both expensive and “WILDLY inappropriate.”

"It's important for leaders in our state and elected representatives to do the work to fact-check for themselves, instead of taking fake images and spreading lies in order to create division," said Reilley. 

Bear told Cowboy State Daily that a “solid” witness had alerted him to the alleged Lander incident. The witness said no to being interviewed by Cowboy State Daily, said Bear.

According to Reilley and a screenshot she posted, the image Bear dispatched of two hands holding what appears to be a condom returned a Google Reverse Images result of a viral SnapChat screenshot.

Cowboy State Daily’s own Google Reverse Images search, days later, did not replicate that result. That could be because SnapChat doesn’t retain images, Reilley said.

The rest of the controversy is now a complaint that is pending before the Campbell County Commission.

[{"type":"text","text":"First, The Church"}]

Kurt Siebenaler applied for a permit to run a float on behalf of his church, Church at the Barn, in Campbell County’s Fourth of July parade, he told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

[{"type":"text","text":"It was a fun task before all the drama, he said."}]

“The theme was, our country was founded on Biblical principles,” he said. 

Congregants decked out the float with Bibles, a big USA sign and a liberty bell. They’d planned to hand out pocket versions of the U.S. Constitution and New Testament volumes, he added.

When Siebenaler applied to be in the parade, the application said fliers, stickers, paper products, brochures, paper handouts, and leaflets weren’t allowed in it, he recalled.

Siebenaler went to check with a Parks and Recreation staffer, Darla Cotton, and she said the volumes would not be allowed under that rule, he added.

“She said because if people don’t want them, they’re just going to throw them on the ground when they leave,” Siebenaler said. 

He countered that they weren’t going to hand them out to “a half dozen kids or whatever” but would be more targeted.

Cotton maintained her veto but said the churchgoers could sign up for a booth at the later hot dog feed at Bicentennial Park and hand out Bibles and Constitutions there, Siebenaler said, adding that the church approved that plan.

Cotton contacted Siebenaler ahead of the hot dog feed to say the department had run out of room for booths and needed to give political candidates priority to be fair across races, he recalled.

Siebenaler told the church, and “word got out to a couple (county) commissioners.”

Then Cotton reportedly told Siebenaler that if the church could find a political candidate willing to share a booth, it could hand out its volumes from there.

Ira Shober, a county commission candidate who attends the church, agreed to share, Siebenaler said.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Monday Meeting"}]

Commission Chair Bob Jordan and Commissioner Jerry Means met with Campbell County Parks and Recreation Director Dwayne Dillinger, superintendent Adam Gibson, Bear, Republican state Rep. Abby Angelos, at least one attorney representing the county and other stakeholders to discuss the issues on the Monday before July 4.

Dillinger and Angelos are both Republicans running against each other for a Gillette-based seat in the state Senate.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bear is running again for his seat in the House."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The primary election is Aug. 18."}]

In Bear’s telling, Dillinger wasn’t aware of the dustup, “but he defended it when the time came.”

“I keep telling him if you have a conflict, you can’t err on the side of trampling people’s inalienable constitutional rights,” Bear told Cowboy State Daily.

Dillinger was reticent in his interviews with Cowboy State Daily, saying he had to be careful not to campaign in a story told from his professional post because of the Hatch Act.

That federal law bars people working for agencies that receive federal money from using their positions to campaign.

He said the parade rules on which Cotton relied were implemented long before he became the director.

Bear said that county personnel said Gillette city officials didn’t want the trash, but that a later call to the city debunked that.

Cotton sent Cowboy State Daily the PDF copies of the rules for each year from 2021-2026. Those show the ban on “flyers, stickers and other types of materials” starting in 2021, with the warning that “they end up everywhere as trash rather than in the hands of the parade attendee.”

“They’re the same (rules) for everybody,” said Cotton in a Thursday interview. “We’re not restricting what they can say; just how they deliver it because of the trash issue.”

[{"type":"text","text":"In 2024, that rule expanded to all paper products."}]

Cotton said Parks and Recreation staffers have had recurring conversations with city officials about the trash problem, and main discussion driving that rule happened in 2021.

And in 2021 the streets division contact was a different person, she said. “Back then it was different people (voicing these concerns) than are there now,” said Cotton.

[{"type":"text","text":"The City Council Candidate"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Ben Decker is a Gillette City Council candidate.  "}]

Cotton is managing campaigns for two other candidates, Heidi Gross and Eric Scott. She said she’s received permission since these are nonpartisan campaigns and she works for the county, not the city.

She said she’s helped with social media work for legislative campaigns, but doesn’t manage any legislative campaign.

Decker in his own interview referenced a 

Vomhof defied the Parks and Recreation director that year and ran a float highly critical of the city’s then-mayor, whom 

 over the sudden resignation of now-mayor, then councilman Shay Lundvall.

[{"type":"text","text":"That was before Dillinger ran the Parks and Recreation department."}]

Vomhof said in a Thursday interview that both the Parks and Recreation director of the time and county commissioners tried to shut him down.

But he ran the float — which showed a jail cell and signs reading “fire the mayor” — after what he described as a conversation in which the police chief noted that running a parade float without a permit isn’t an arrestable offense.  

Decker told Cowboy State Daily that the war between some residents and “tyrannical” officials started with Vomhoff’s protest float and continues today.

Decker asserted that Cotton, who is his second cousin, has tightened the rules each year based on whatever he did the prior year.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cotton denied that assertion, pointing to the largely stagnant rules."}]

When a state lawmaker asked why Campbell County parade floats couldn't hand out Bibles but a Lander float could hand out condoms, the Lander float organizers said they did no such thing. Campbell County's Bible saga is much more complicated.

You Still Here? Wednesday, August 16, 2023

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