Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"A brotherhood of Darwins..."}]

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A brotherhood of Darwins...

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

Courts

CASPER — A 21-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to his alleged part in a confrontation that led up to a fatal shooting at south-side apartment last year. 

Jadin Zander Tripplett is accused of being with an armed friend on May 11, 2025, when he pointed a gun at a man in the apartment — who was also his cousin —and pulling the trigger.

Triplett told Casper police the gun didn’t fire because he had forgotten to take his safety off. 

His accomplice, Anicio Bernard, 20, did fire his weapon as did the man in the apartment, leaving Bernard dead and the cousin wounded.

In Natrona County District Court on Tuesday standing beside his defense attorney Dylan Rosalez, Judge Kerri Johnson read Triplett the aggravated assault and battery charge he faces for the May 11, 2025, incident. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He told her he understood the charge."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Johnson asked him how he would plead."}]

“Not guilty, your honor,” Triplett said.

The judge said she would order the case be put on the court docket for trial.

Rosalez asked that Triplett’s $100,000 cash or surety bond be continued.

Triplett pleaded not guilty in a separate file on July 9 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery related to the same May 11 incident. 

That charge and the aggravated assault and battery charge were separated in Casper Circuit Court due to a legal issue during Triplett’s first preliminary hearing on both charges.

The Natrona County District Attorney’s Office has asked to joint the cases again.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Background"}]

Charges against Triplett stem from an incident in the early evening of May 11, 2025, when court records state he and Bernard had gone to his cousin’s apartment to retrieve a weapon allegedly stolen from Triplett.

Both men put on masks before entering the apartment and they were accompanied by Triplett’s girlfriend, Neevah Marie Neeman.

A police affidavit states that at least four people were in the apartment when the pair entered the door and Bernard yelled out, “Give me all your shit, give me all your shit.”

Neeman told police that while walking into the apartment building, Bernard had chambered a round in his pistol. 

The affidavit states Bernard had gotten the weapon from Triplett a few weeks earlier. Neeman also said Triplett had a handgun as well.

Once inside, Triplett’s cousin pulled out the weapon he had and the shooting began, according to the affidavit.

A handful of witnesses interviewed by police inside and outside the apartment estimated that seven to 11 shots were exchanged, the affidavit states. 

Police recovered two 9 mm shell casing and 11 10 mm casings.

Triplett’s cousin was hit in the heart and gall bladder causing “extensive damage,” the affidavit states. 

He was transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center and then sent by life flight to Colorado for further care.

Bernard was also transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Last Word: ‘Run'"}]

Witnesses told police that Bernard was lying in a pool of blood on the concrete outside the door wearing a ski mask and in possession of a pistol.

Triplett and Neeman both told police following the shooting that Bernard’s last word to them was “run.”

Bernard’s girlfriend, who remained in the car outside the apartment, said prior to going into the building that she and Bernard had taken off their religious necklaces, put them together and said a prayer.

None of the trio called 911, they just took off in the car to gather weapons at Triplett’s residence to give to a friend.

Witnesses interviewed by police described the cousin and shooting victim as someone the apartment renter wanted out of the place. 

Triplett told police that initially he thought that he and Bernard were going to be “pressing” his cousin with their fists, but when he saw Bernard pull out his gun, he continued because he did not want to be labeled a “pussy.”

The affidavit states Triplett admitted pointing his gun at his cousin with a round in the chamber, but when he tried to pull the trigger he had forgotten to release the safety.

“Triplett stated he took this as a sign and left the apartment,” the affidavit states.

The police investigation included a recording sent from a “reliable” and “unnamed source” after the shooting where Triplett and his girlfriend were heard talking about the shooting,” the affidavit says. 

On one recording Triplett is heard stating that “KB (Bernard) had his blick.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Blick is a slang term for a weapon."}]

In a second recording, Triplett is heard describing what he would tell police who maybe would find his fingerprints on shell casings or the gun.

“Know what I’m gonna say? This (n***a) was just in my crib, he got two warrants, and he robbed my blick,” the affidavit states was on the recording. 

The affidavit states prior to May 11, Triplett was offering people $500 to get his weapon back from his cousin. 

A police search of Triplett’s cellphone found a message sent to his cousin on May 9 that read, “I’m coming for you cuz.”

Both the aggravated assault and battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery carry potential penalties of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Neeman was charged with accessory after the fact in the case and faces arraignment next month in Natrona County District Court.

Jadin Tripplett 7 14 26

<title>​Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty To Role In Deadly Apartment Shootout | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 21-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Tuesday for his alleged role in a deadly shootout at an apartment complex in May 2025. He’s accused of trying to shoot his cousin over a stolen gun during an armed raid that touched off a gunfight.

​Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty To Role In Deadly Apartment Shootout

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Executive

Cheyenne’s Board of Public Utilities will not move forward with a press conference this week to discuss details surrounding the contamination of the city's wastewater reuse system by a Meta data center contractor, despite publicly saying last week that it would.

Frank Strong, BOPU’s engineering and water resource division manager, told Cowboy State Daily in a phone call Tuesday that the board is “not able to” do the information event as initially planned. 

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he's unable to discuss why."}]

Instead, BOPU is putting together a list of questions it has received from media and members of the public and is working on drafting concise answers.

“We’ve received a lot of questions, a lot of inquiries,” Strong said, adding that he hopes the document would be publicly released Wednesday or Thursday. 

The public upswell over the contamination has built for weeks after the BOPU made the contamination public months after it happened.

On July 2, the BOPU  announced that Goat Systems LLC, the corporate entity Meta uses during construction of its nearly 800,000-square-foot data center campus, was in "significant noncompliance" with the city's industrial pretreatment regulations after discharging wastewater contaminated with Cupriavidus gilardii bacteria into Cheyenne's municipal reuse water system. 

The board had issued a public notice June 26 that laboratory staff identified the contaminant in a February sampling from Meta’s closed-loop cooling system.

Meta would not comment publicly on the BOPU’s decision, nor would it comment on whether closed-loop cooling systems are safe and reliable for limiting water consumption from its data centers, whether it would publicly share the results of its own water quality tests and whether it plans any sort of community outreach in the wake of the incident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hageman And Meta"}]

sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

, asking pointed questions about the contamination and asking the company to release all information it has about the Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium that had been discharged into the city’s wastewater system.

Hageman's strongly-worded letter had demanded answers of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

For example, she asked why the public announcement about the contamination came more than four months after the Meta contractor disrupted the city’s reclaimed wastewater system with the rare bacterial contaminant.

Meta called Hageman’s office within 24 hours, the representative said in a Tuesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily.

“First of all, I want to commend them. They called us immediately,” said Hageman. 

That first phone call was between Meta personnel and Hageman staffers, she said. She took to X.com to call that first call “productive.” 

Hageman said Meta’s stance was essentially that, “We want to be a good neighbor, be responsive, we recognize this is something that’s been announced (as coming) from our facility and we’re doing the investigation to find out what happened and address it.”

Hageman said she joined a second call with Meta officials Tuesday afternoon in which the tech officials said they are working with the Board of Public Utilities to “figure out what happened here.”

The representative said she sees her approach to this issue less as a federal lawmaker and more as an advocate for Wyoming.

“One of the things I’ve encouraged them, and other people either wanting to come to Wyoming or who are in Wyoming bringing ... different types of businesses expanding our workforce is,  you need to work with the communities where you intend to go,” she said. 

“Talk with city leaders. Have public meetings. Talk about what you intend to do. Make sure you’re doing that public outreach so people can engage with you and understand what it is you intend to do in the state of Wyoming,” Hageman added.

Hageman said she has not been in touch with the BOPU on why it isn’t planning to have a press conference this week and doesn’t have insight there, but believes that the entity should engage with the public also.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Priced Out Of Transparency"}]

Erin Lamb, BOPU’s administrative and public affairs coordinator, has said that the company will pay for all remediation costs associated with the incident.

Exie Brown Jr., a Republican vying for a House District 9 seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives, submitted public records requests to the BOPU regarding the contamination, saying on social media, “These are legitimate questions about public infrastructure, water quality, and public health.”

Cost estimates to retrieve those records are estimated at $500 from the city of Cheyenne and more than $1,300 from the Department of Health, he said.

“These are not trivial amounts for an individual citizen seeking information that directly affects the community,” he said. “While agencies are permitted to recover reasonable costs for processing complex requests, fees of this magnitude on matters involving public health and ratepayer-funded infrastructure create real barriers to transparency.”

Brown expressed skepticism over BOPU’s decision against a press conference, saying it appears the board wants to craft its answers carefully. It also means it won’t be open to follow-up or other questions from those attending the press conference.

“It tells me they don’t want to have to try and answer any potential unexpected questions,” Brown told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday text message.

BOPU board member Jeff Fassett told Cowboy State Daily in an email Tuesday that he was checking with senior staff on the status of the agency's answers.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I had expected some replies before now,” Fassett said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We Did Not Want To Create A Public Panic'"}]

More than four hours into Monday night’s lengthy Cheyenne City Council meeting, Laramie County resident David Knisely confronted Mayor Patrick Collins with a direct question: “Do you all promise to tell us anything that you know, immediately, that might affect us?”

The mayor responded he and the council would do everything they could to be transparent.

“So what happened with respect to contamination at Meta? Why was it five months or six months before we knew anything?”

After a pause, the mayor said, “I honestly don’t know why it took six months.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“When did you know?” Kniseley asked."}]

The mayor responded that he was told “sometime this spring that an incident had happened and that BOP was looking into it.

“And then I think all of us learned the extent of that just a week or so ago,” he added. “But honestly, I did hear that an incident had happened. Not a lot of details, sir.”

Bryce Dorr, an engineer with BOPU, said at the meeting that the board will provide a detailed timeline of what happened, “as well as some answers to some of the questions we have seen.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He reiterated that the issue was never with the city’s drinking water."}]

“We’re trying to get more answers,” he said. “We’re trying to understand further what has happened.”

Dorr addressed Knisely directly, saying that news about the contamination “has kind of been an explosion.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I get why you’re scared,” Dorr said."}]

The holdout of waiting four months before informing the public was because “There was not a risk,” he said. “We did not want to create public panic.”

“If there is not an immediate risk to public health, it’s not something we want to create public panic over,” Dorr said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Do It Immediately'"}]

Dorr said he has taken a pay cut to work for the city, and what he values most about his position is that he has a role in protecting the community.

“And I know that’s what these people are here to do, too,” he said, acknowledging the City Council.

“But there are only certain things that we can control,” he said. “We are doing our best to protect the community and do what’s best for this community.”

Council member Pete Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday the BOPU has a clear responsibility “to detail every element of this and do it immediately. These circumstances certainly seed a narrative of complete distrust.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Laybourn questioned the way the BOPU is handling the situation."}]

“You should not raise expectations of a press conference and then say you’re going to study it some more,” he said. “My guess is there’s a lot of studying that’s been going on for the past five months.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“This couldn’t possibly have come at a worse time,” he added."}]

Mayor Collins said in an email to Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the BOPU had notified him of its change of plans for the press conference and that he had not had a chance to follow up.

Meta aerial 7331 7 14 26

<title>On Second Thought, No Press Conference On Cheyenne Meta Data Center Contamination | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Despite promising a press conference this week to address the Meta data center contamination of Cheyenne’s wastewater system, the Board of Public Utilities now says it won’t, opting instead to release a statement addressing questions.

On Second Thought, No Press Conference On Cheyenne Meta Data Center Contamination

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Hunting

An outbreak of canine distemper and other setbacks has left northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, so the quota for the upcoming wolf hunting seasons is less than half of last year’s.

As of Jan. 1, there were 132 wolves in the wolf management area in northwest Wyoming, state Game and Fish Department biologist Ken Mills told the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, during the commission’s meeting Tuesday in Sheridan.

The Game and Fish Department’s objective is for 160 wolves in that area, said Mills, a large carnivore biologist and wolf management specialist.

The department recommended setting the wolf mortality quota for the 2026 hunting season at 20, less than half of the 2025 44-wolf quota.

The mortality quota designates the number of wolves that can die, by any cause, before the hunt is shut down. 

If the mortality quota is met before the end date of the hunting season in that area, the hunting season is still shut down, regardless of how many hunters are left holding unfilled tags.

Hunters killed 31 wolves in 2025, falling short of the 44-wolf quota, Mills said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What About 1090F?"}]

Fans of Yellowstone National Park’s famous Wolf 1090F said her pack is denning in one of the hunt areas.

Some asked the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to carve out an exception to the proposed 2026 season regulations and suspend hunting in that area.

The commission voted unanimously to accept the wolf hunting seasons as proposed by the Game and Fish Department. Those include a quota of four wolves total in Hunt Areas 1 and 2 (Clarks Fork, North Fork).

Wolf 1090’s pack, the Mollie’s pack, is now denning on the Shoshone National Forest in Hunt Area 1.

The wolf hunt season there is set to run from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.

In January, Wolf 1090F reached the age of 11 years, 9 months, making her the 

At that time, she surpassed the age of the legendary 907F, who died at roughly 11 years, 8 months old on Christmas Day in 2024 a few days after a fight with members of a rival wolf pack.

Just prior to the commission voting on the wolf seasons, Lisa Robertson of Wyoming Untrapped and Marke Cooke of Wolves of the Rockies called in to the meeting via Zoom to object.

Given the decline in the wolf population, Wyoming Untrapped and other wolf advocates would like to see wolf hunting suspended for two years, Robertson said.

Or, at least hunting should be suspended this year in Hunt Area 1 to protect Wolf 1090F and the rest of the Mollie’s pack, she said.

That would preserve an “internationally-recognized and highly-studied wolf pack,” she said.

Cooke also emphasized that the Mollie’s pack is prized by wolf researchers.

“Once they are gone, decades of irreplaceable knowledge are gone with them,” he told the commission.

Sparing the Mollie’s pack from being hunted could also bolster Wyoming’s image, Cooke said, adding that, "Wyoming is getting pretty beat up lately on some wildlife issues."

There have recently been high-profile cases of alleged wildlife abuse in Wyoming. 

Those include Daniel resident Cody Roberts capturing, tormenting and killing a wolf in February 2024. Also, a Unita County rancher allegedly videotaping two others 

Commissioner John Masterson noted that the Mollie’s pack is popular and frequently watched and photographed.

“From a pure management, scientific standpoint, is there anything substantially unique about that pack?” he asked the commission.

Mills responded that from the department’s perspective, “a breeding pair is a breeding pair, a pack is a pack” in terms of monitoring and managing wolves.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Numbers Down"}]

Wolves in Wyoming fall under three classifications, depending upon where they are in the state.

Inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, they remain protected and may not be hunted.

In areas immediately adjacent to the park — in the Game and Fish wolf management zone — they may be shot by licensed hunters only during set seasons and within mortality quota limits.

Outside of the management zone, which is about 85% of Wyoming, wolves are classified as a predatory animal and may be killed at any time, with no limits or hunting tag required.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming is “committed” to maintain a population of 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, inside the management zone, Mills said.

A breeding pair is male and female wolf that successfully raise at least two pups through the end of December.

Game and Fish wolf objectives include a “buffer” above the federal commitment, Mills said.

The department’s objective is for 160 wolves and 13 or 14 breeding pairs inside the wolf management zone, he said.

At the beginning of the year, there were 132 wolves in 22 packs, including 10 breeding pairs, Mills said.

The decline in wolf numbers might be largely due to an outbreak of canine distemper, which started in the fall of 2025 and has been especially hard on wolf pups, Mills said.

Wolf populations tend to recover quickly, he added.

For the wolf population stabilize at 160 by the end of 2026, as many as 63 could die of all causes, he said.

Of those, 35 could be “human-caused” wolf deaths by year’s end, Mills said.

Allowing for 15 wolves to be killed for such things as attacking livestock, that leaves a hunters’ quota of 20 across the entire wolf management zone, he said.

Howling wolves 7 14 26

<title>Wyoming Game And Fish Commission Cuts Wolf Hunt Quotas By More Than Half | Cowboy State Daily</title>

With northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, the state Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday cut the wolf hunt limits by more than half. Some advocates said that’s not enough, arguing to suspend hunting wolves altogether.

Wyoming Game And Fish Commission Cuts Wolf Hunt Quotas By More Than Half

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

A summer camp drive through Cody took a disturbing turn when, investigators say, a group of children allegedly found themselves looking out the windows of their van at a man driving alongside them without pants and pleasuring himself while making eye contact with those in the van.

Court records show that rather than let him disappear into traffic, two camp counselors followed the vehicle through Cody, photographed its license plate and called law enforcement.

Cody police officers say they quickly realized the registered owner was someone they already knew.

Andrew Crawford, a Cody resident born in 1988 and a registered sex offender, has been charged with felony indecent liberties with a minor and several public indecency misdemeanors spanning multiple years. 

who was convicted of public indecency in April 2023 after he repeatedly exposed himself to female baristas at Cody coffee kiosks during the fall of 2022.

Those incidents continued for weeks before one barista responded by dumping scalding 170-degree water into Crawford's lap after he exposed himself. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"6 Juveniles "}]

Park County dispatch got the report about Crawford's more recent allegations at about 4:34 p.m. on Friday, court records show.

One of the camp counselors told investigators that he and another counselor were traveling through Cody with six juveniles when a blue Chevrolet Impala pulled alongside their van.

The counselor reported that the driver had removed his pants and was masturbating while looking through the van's windows. He told deputies all six campers and both counselors witnessed the alleged conduct.

Dispatch identified the vehicle as being registered to Crawford, whom the investigating officer wrote he recognized from prior law enforcement contacts involving similar allegations.

Court records show he was accused of exposing himself to two girls and their mother in a Cody Walmart parking lot in 2011 — this while under investigation for allegedly possessing child pornography while serving in the U.S. Air Force in 2009. 

He was sentenced in 2012 to 72 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Witnesses Identified Crawford"}]

Investigators presented the counselors with a six-photo lineup, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Before the officer had finished explaining the identification process, a counselor said he already knew who the suspect was and immediately identified Crawford's photograph. 

He told investigators he recognized him by his bald head, facial hair and face shape, saying the only difference was that the driver had been wearing glasses.

The other counselor also identified Crawford as the man he said he made eye contact with during the incident, says the affidavit.

The following morning, investigators reviewed the counselors' written statements. 

"Both witness statements corroborate the emotional distress and shock of the juvenile campers after they all witnessed the same exposed genitalia and masturbating motions with his hand on his penis," says the affidavit. 

Investigators also confirmed with camp's operations director that the van's windows were not tinted and that passengers inside were clearly visible from outside.

Because Crawford has prior military and Wyoming convictions involving public indecency and sex offender registration violations, the investigating officer asked prosecutors to expedite an arrest warrant, he wrote. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Deputies arrested Crawford later that afternoon without incident."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Court Proceedings"}]

A registered Cody sex offender is accused of exposing and masturbating alongside a van of camp kids while making direct eye contact with those in the van. He’s the same man convicted in 2023 for repeatedly exposing himself to female coffee baristas.

Daily Darwin: Tuesday, November 28, 2023

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