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Michael P. Ramirez

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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Nearly two months after Wyoming prosecutors accused a Utah car dealer of 

 to resell hundreds of hail-damaged Wyoming vehicles using fraudulent titles, the criminal case has advanced to district court.

After a preliminary hearing Monday, Scott Keith Pryor, 50, owner of The Good Car Dealer in Salt Lake City, was bound over on 15 felony counts of altering, forging or counterfeiting a certificate of title.

Laramie County Circuit Court Judge Antoinette Williams found prosecutors presented enough evidence for the case to proceed.

Each felony count alleges a violation of Wyoming's title fraud statute, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

The charges stem from what investigators describe as an elaborate title scheme involving vehicles damaged during the historic August 2025 hailstorm that battered Cheyenne.

[{"type":"text","text":"Pryor has remained free throughout the case on a $5,000 signature bond."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Nearly $2 Million In Vehicles"}]

The affidavit filed by Wyoming investigators alleges Pryor purchased 292 hail-damaged vehicles with an estimated value of nearly $2 million after insurers declared them total losses.

[{"type":"text","text":"Many were purchased through online salvage auctions operated by Copart."}]

Normally, vehicles sold through those auctions receive titles reflecting their salvage status or other branding intended to alert buyers that the vehicles sustained significant damage.

Investigators say Pryor instead sought duplicate Wyoming titles that removed those brands, allowing some vehicles to be sold for substantially more money than they otherwise could have commanded.

The criminal case centers on 15 vehicles investigators say were fraudulently retitled.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation ultimately identified numerous irregularities in title applications connected to the vehicles.

Among them, investigators allege, were forged signatures, counterfeit notary seals and fraudulent paperwork submitted in the names of previous owners.

Perhaps the most startling allegation involved paperwork purportedly signed by a Wyoming woman who had died weeks before the August 2025 hailstorm occurred.

Investigators allege another application listed a notary whose commission had expired years earlier.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Tennessee Titles'"}]

During an interview with investigators, Pryor acknowledged using a company he identified as "Tennessee Titles," according to the affidavit.

He told investigators he found the business through Facebook and paid approximately $150 for each title application.

According to investigators, Pryor identified the people he worked with only as "Rashard" and "Miss Catherine."

The affidavit says Pryor told investigators he simply submitted vehicle information and received paperwork back.

Investigators, however, allege the documents contained forged signatures and counterfeit notarizations that allowed duplicate Wyoming titles to be issued.

Those allegations remain unproven and will now be considered in district court.

At the time charges were filed in June, Cheyenne auto dealer Dallas Tyrrell said dealers were still dealing with the storm's aftermath.

"We see victims to scams like this all the time," Tyrrell told Cowboy State Daily. 

A vehicle's title history can be every bit as important as its mechanical condition, he said, because it affects its value, financing and insurability. 

"It's so important to use somebody that has a license and is reputable," Tyrrell said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Customer Speaks Out"}]

After Cowboy State Daily first reported Pryor's arrest in June, a woman named Brooklyn Arthur reached out to say she believed her own experience mirrored some of the allegations now playing out in court.

"I wanted to reach out because I was a customer of his too," Arthur wrote.

Arthur said she purchased a hail-damaged vehicle from Pryor in approximately September 2024, nearly a year before the Wyoming hailstorm at the center of the criminal case.

"He was very reassuring in the beginning, and there were no issues at first," she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"But once I never received the title, things got very sketchy.\""}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Arthur said months passed without the paperwork arriving."}]

"I never received the title after 11 months of having the car," she said. "There was a duplicate title involved in the process,. He also mentioned getting the title from Tennessee, similar to what your article mentions."

Arthur's vehicle purchase is not part of the Wyoming criminal case, and prosecutors have not alleged her transaction was criminal.

Still, she said reading the charging documents immediately reminded her of her own experience.

Cowboy State Daily reached out Tuesday to Pryor’s attorney Thomas Garvie seeking comment on Monday's hearing as well as Arthur's account. He did not immediately respond.

Pryor has not yet entered a plea in district court. He will next appear for an arraignment. 

Court records show the case is being prosecuted by William Joseph Edelman.

Good car dealer 6 12 26

<title>Case Advances Against Dealer Charged With Forging Wyoming Titles For Hail-Damaged Cars | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Utah auto dealer accused of using forged Wyoming titles to turn hail-battered cars into clean-title bargains is now facing 15 felony counts and up to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors say the scheme involved nearly $2 million worth of damaged vehicles.

Case Advances Against Dealer Charged With Forging Wyoming Titles For Hail-Damaged Cars

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

Greg Johnson

Courts

A 34-year-old Upton man denies allegations he pulled a gun on a group of people at a Gillette hotel and threatened to “put a bullet in everybody’s head.”

That’s what Gillette Police Department investigators allege a reportedly intoxicated Dakota Adams did during a Saturday confrontation with his girlfriend while their children were present at the National 9 Inn on the east side of the city.

Police were contacted by a bystander at the hotel who reported Adams, who “appeared to be intoxicated and extremely aggravated” and arguing with a woman, while another man and her older children were behind her, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by GPD Officer Kimberly Hockman.

“Dakota had a revolver in his hand and threatened to ‘put a bullet in everybody’s head,’” the affidavit says.

The witness “explained it appeared to be a family dispute between Dakota and a female,” Hockman wrote, adding that Adams and the woman were in a five-year relationship, but that she wanted out.

In fact, she was at the hotel with another man, identified in the affidavit as her new boyfriend.

By the time police arrived at the National 9, Adams had “placed the revolver in his waistband and left the area in a gray Ford Edge with no rear plate … (and) with two children in the back seat,” the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What She Said"}]

Because Adams may have been armed and the children in the back of the car — which belonged to his father, and who was in the car with Adams — police were prepared to conduct a “high-risk stop,” Hockman wrote.

They wouldn’t need to, as Adams pulled into a gas station, where police caught up to him, according to the affidavit.

Hockman then arrived with the girlfriend, who “explained she had come to Gillette to cash her paycheck,” and that her “vehicle was parked outside of the National 9 because her new boyfriend resided there,” she wrote.

The woman had been getting repeated phone calls and text messages from Adams, then he spotted her car at the hotel, the affidavit says.

“When (the woman) came outside to roll up her windows, Dakota was in the passenger seat of (his father’s) vehicle watching her,” the document continues. “Dakota got out and started walking towards (her) and her two older children.”

Believing Adams was trying to get to the two older children to take them with him, the girlfriend told police that he “repeatedly said, ‘Get the f*** out of my way’ and tried pushing past (the woman),” according to the affidavit.

She said she told Adams to leave because of how he was behaving and she didn’t want him scaring their kids.

Adams eventually retreated back to his father’s car, then emerged with a gun.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not The First Time"}]

The woman told police that she heard his father say, “Cody, don’t,” and explained that they all sometimes would call Adams “Cody.”

That’s when she “looked back and saw Dakota pointing the gun directly at her,” the affidavit says. “Dakota said something to the effect of, ‘Why don’t I just cut everybody in this mother f***er down’ while waving the gun around.”

Adams allegedly backed off when he realized that others were watching the confrontation and that at least one bystander had called police.

The woman also said that Adams “was a chronic alcoholic and this was not the first time Dakota had become belligerent and aggressive towards her,” Hockman wrote, “even stating this was not the first time he threatened her with a gun.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What He Said"}]

For his part, Adams denies threatening anyone and initially claimed he didn’t pull a gun. He later admitted he did get a gun from the car and had it in his hand, but denied pointing it at anyone, the affidavit says.

“Dakota advised he was in town from Upton with his father and two children to do some grocery shopping and to run a few errands,” the affidavit says. “One of those errands was shopping at Gun Traders, where he stated he purchased a ‘defective’ Taurus handgun revolver.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He also said the gun wasn’t loaded."}]

Adams knew his girlfriend was at the hotel because she was having trouble cashing a check and was there.

The woman “came outside yelling at him, saying she wanted to end their relationship,” according to the affidavit. “While (she) was yelling at Dakota, she ‘nudged’ him away; however, Dakota never expressed that he felt threatened.”

The Upton man also told police that “he realized what he did was ‘dumb’ and put the gun back,” the affidavit continues.

The man who initially called 911 told police that Adams allegedly confronted him about calling police and that he “believed he may be shot by Dakota at this time,” Hockman wrote.

That’s when Adams then opened the cylinder on his revolver and said there were no bullets in it, got into his car and left the hotel.

Adams was arrested Saturday and had his first appearance in Campbell County Circuit Court on Monday.

A preliminary hearing to determine if there’s enough evidence to continue with a felony prosecution is set for Monday.

If convicted of aggravated assault, Adams could face a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

National 9 Inn Gillette 8 4 26

<title>Upton Man Denies Pulling Gun, Threating To ‘Put A Bullet In Everybody’s Head’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 34-year-old Upton man denies he pulled a gun on a group of people at a Gillette hotel Saturday and threatened to “put a bullet in everybody’s head.” Police say the threat was made during a confrontation with his girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

Upton Man Denies Pulling Gun, Threating To ‘Put A Bullet In Everybody’s Head’

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Public Safety

When Teton Backcountry Alliance Chair Gary Kofinas said goodbye to his friend David Page in Wilson on July 7, he had no reason to think it would be the last time they would see each other.

The two had planned to attend a meeting in Driggs, Idaho, about a proposal to expand Grand Targhee Ski Resort. But when it appeared attendance would be light, Kofinas decided at the last minute to stay home while Page continued over Teton Pass.

About 20 minutes later, Page's Subaru was one of 

multiple vehicles struck by an out-of-control dump truck

 on the east side of the pass. Page, of Mammoth Lakes, California, and Nicholas Besobrasow of Tetonia, Idaho, were killed.

For Kofinas, the tragedy underscored what many residents on both sides of the pass have known for years.

“What’s happening on Teton Pass is a pattern of repeated accidents and it needs significant attention,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

That conviction brought nearly 200 people to the Old Wilson Schoolhouse on Monday for a community meeting focused on one question: How can Teton Pass be made safer?

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Long-Standing Problem"}]

The meeting was organized by Kofinas and six other residents — Ryan Freeman, Randy Roberts, Corey Milligan, Nate Carey, Ellen Fales and Jared Smith.

"Seven of us got together and said, 'Hey, let's make this happen,'" Kofinas said.

Freeman and his wife, Salene, were sideswiped by a runaway box truck on the pass in 2025. The accident totaled their vehicle and damaged three others. Roberts watched in 2024 as a runaway RV coming down the pass crashed into the Exxon station in downtown Wilson, narrowly missing the gas pumps.

The gathering gave commuters, residents, public officials and crash survivors an opportunity to share their experiences and begin discussing possible solutions.

[{"type":"text","text":"The concerns and experiences are backed by decades of statistics."}]

Reaching up to 10%, Teton Pass, which carries traffic between Jackson and eastern Idaho, is one of the steepest highway grades in the continental United States, according to the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Traffic reaches roughly 10,000 vehicles per day in winter and about 15,000 daily during the summer tourism season.

According to the Wyoming Department of Transportation, crashes on Teton Pass have increased about 20% over the past five years.

Kofinas estimates that since the highway opened in 1969, roughly 34 people have lost their lives on the pass.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Two Wake-Up Calls"}]

Eight days after the July 7 fatal crash, an 

RV that also appeared to suffer brake failure

 barreled down Teton Pass, weaving through traffic before reaching the bottom without crashing.

"That drove it home," Kofinas said. "People were already awake. It woke everyone up even more."

Among those attending Monday's meeting were two survivors of the July 7 crash, both of Wilson. Mike Fischer suffered 11 broken bones, and Belinda Gunn sustained six broken bones, according to Kofinas.

"There was good representation, good discussion," Kofinas said. "People spoke from the heart."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Searching For Solutions"}]

During the meeting, some questioned whether heavy commercial trucks should continue using the pass. Others pointed to inexperienced drivers, particularly tourists steering rented recreational vehicles over the steep grade without understanding the risks.

Kofinas said many visitors arrive unfamiliar with mountain driving or proper brake use.

A few commercial truck drivers who attended the meeting, however, said they routinely cross the pass safely by using appropriate techniques and argued that properly trained drivers can navigate the highway without incident.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's not a simple solution,\" Kofinas said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The debate isn't new."}]

Kofinas said he recently read a 1978 newspaper editorial warning that Teton Pass had not been designed for heavy vehicles.

"It could have been written yesterday," he said. "The road was intended for cars. And here we are."

Ideas raised during the meeting included asking the Wyoming Department of Transportation to establish a broader task force that would include state agencies, local governments and community members to evaluate potential improvements and identify the most effective long-term solutions.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Building Momentum"}]

Representatives from WYDOT, the Wyoming Highway Patrol, county commissioners and county staff attended the meeting, along with residents on both sides of Teton Pass – Wyoming and Idaho.

Teton Pass is not technically within the county commissioners’  jurisdiction because it is a state highway governed by WYDOT.

Organizers ordered 40 pizzas for attendees, and after the meeting many lingered outside, continuing conversations about what comes next.

Kofinas said WYDOT representatives indicated the agency is paying attention to the community's concerns.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to WYDOT regional engineer Bob Hammond for comment but did not receive a response before publication.

While no specific action was taken at Monday’s meeting, attendees agree on one thing:

"The status quo is not acceptable," Kofinas said. "We just need to think positive, be forward-thinking."

Teton crash 7 8 26

<title>After Fatal Dump Truck Wreck & Out-Of-Control RV, Residents Demand Safer Teton Pass | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Nearly 200 people showed up Monday to discuss the safety of Teton Pass following a dump truck crash last month that killed two people and an out-of-control RV that barreled down the pass a week later. Crashes have increased by 20% on the roadway in five years.

After Fatal Dump Truck Wreck & Out-Of-Control RV, Residents Demand Safer Teton Pass

Seven months after allegedly kidnapping her 11-month-old son, fleeing the state, then 

 during a brief standoff with law enforcement, a trial has been set for Madeline Daly.

It will be another six months before a Grant County, New Mexico, jury trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 11, 2027, which was set during a July 21 pretrial hearing.

While the wheels of justice take time, there’s no amount of time that can make Jake Stoner feel much better since the death of his son, reportedly at the hands of his mother.

“There’s a special kind of evil at work here,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday as Daly, 35, sits in a southwest New Mexico jail cell facing charges of 

 and intentional abuse of a child resulting in death.

[{"type":"text","text":"Stoner said he’s still “pretty much” shellshocked."}]

He declined to discuss the legal and court process much ahead of the trial, but Stoner did say he would have preferred if she were facing a federal prosecution instead of state.

With a federal court, “she would face the death penalty,” Stoner said.

In New Mexico, there is no death penalty and life in prison also can mean a convicted felon could be up for parole after 30 years.

If convicted, Daly could face 30 years to life for first-degree murder and life for intentional abuse, according to New Mexico statutes.

“This is the most God-awful thing I’ve ever experienced,” Stoner said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘She Would Do It Again’"}]

Already wanted on a Wyoming warrant for kidnapping her infant son Basil, Daly was located near Silver City, New Mexico, just before Christmas last year.

As Grant County Sheriff’s Office deputies moved in around an RV she was staying at, Daly, who lived at an RV park in Ten Sleep before leaving the state, realized they were closing in on her, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in her case.

She allegedly shot her son, then tried to turn the gun on herself, but by then officers were able to subdue her, according to the affidavit written by Detective Lt. Jason Jordan.

She also reportedly told investigators afterward that she didn’t know why she shot and killed the boy, but that in her mind, she couldn’t let Stoner or his family have him.

“Even if the rest of life is worthless, she would do it again just so to make sure that the (family) didn’t touch him,” the affidavit says.

Daly told investigators that after officers stormed into the RV when she shot the boy, she “wasn’t fast enough killing herself after is all she can say about that,” the affidavit says.

Daly was wanted on a warrant out of Washakie County, Wyoming, after the boy’s father reported the infant missing Nov. 19.

Stoner, from Kilgore, Nebraska, shared custody of the boy with Daly and said she resisted him visiting their son. He last saw Basil on Sept. 28.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lands In New Mexico"}]

Daly had disappeared until she applied for a job near Silver City, New Mexico, the affidavit says.

The Wyoming warrant for her arrest popped up during a background check, the affidavit says.

For her part, Daly told agents after her arrest that she was keeping Basil “safe,” and that she knew she was breaking the law, but felt it was worth it for the sake of her child.

She said that’s why she ran into a nearby RV with Basil when she realized the law was closing in on her, the affidavit says.

She also made unsubstantiated claims that Basil “would have been in danger and molested if she would have stepped out of that trailer” and that his father “never wanted anything to do with Basil, financially, physically, emotionally ever.”

When questioned about why she kidnapped her own son, Daly replied that “she was not going to allow her (then) 8-month-old baby go back and forth from Nebraska to Wyoming twice a month,” the affidavit says.

Daly said she wound up in New Mexico because she had worked in that area 10 years ago. She began working for some people there who “ended up ratting her out because they knew she was running from something,” Jordan wrote.

Daly apparently had been trying to blend into an unincorporated area near Silver City, Jordan writes in his affidavit.

She was living in a rented bunkhouse, and an officer who had a contact living near the bunkhouse was alerted and began “keeping an eye out for her return home,” Jordan wrote.

Coincidentally, another deputy saw Daly and her son earlier that day at a local restaurant, but at the time didn’t know she was wanted by the law.

“Madeline was last seen this morning by Cpl. Deputy (William) Mize at the Three Questions Café in Mimbres, but he was not aware of the kidnapping at the time,” the affidavit says.

The document goes on to recount that the deputy observed that “she was a bit evasive as she sat down with her son to have breakfast this morning.”

After getting the call from Washakie County, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office developed a plan to retrieve Basil, the affidavit says.

That included sending out five deputies to the bunkhouse. They had been tipped off that Daly had returned there.

“On arrival, Cpl. Deputy Mize saw a female subject running with a small child towards a motorized RV,” the affidavit says. “When deputies arrive to the motorized RV, they were confronted by a female subject later identified as (the owner of the RV).”

Daly later told investigators why she ran with Basil into the RV.

“I saw the sheriffs and I knew my time was up,” she said, according to the affidavit.

“When asked what went through her mind when she saw law enforcement walking up, she replied, ‘Jake can’t get Basil,’” the affidavit said.

Daly reportedly told investigators she assumed they had a felony warrant for kidnapping because she didn’t follow a judge’s custody order.

“So she said, ‘F*** it, it’s worth a shot,’” the affidavit says, adding that she considered her actions “worth it” if it meant keeping Basil away from his father and his family.

Deputies wanted to go into the RV and get the boy, but the owner “would not give deputies permission to enter her residence without a search warrant,” the affidavit says.

While authorities were telling Daly that she was surrounded and calling her out of the house, other agents were preparing to get a search warrant “just in case Madeline did not comply and come outside,” the affidavit says.

It was then at least one gunshot was heard from inside the RV.

One deputy then reported that the 11-month-old had been “shot in the chest by his mother, Madeline Daly,” the affidavit says, adding that she was in custody.

It’s not clear from the affidavit how many times the infant was shot.

The document references a gunshot to the chest, but then also reports that “medical staff worked on the child, but they were unable to save his life due to the gunshot wound to the face.”

It’s not clear from Daly’s public-facing court file if a mental evaluation has been asked for or ordered leading up to the trail. There are four documents that have been sealed from public view.

She remains in the Grant County Detention Center without bond.

In the meantime, she also faces a potential felony charge in Wyoming of interference with custody, which could get her up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Madeline Daly and Basil 12 26 25

<title>Trial Set For Wyoming Woman Accused Of Kidnapping, Killing Infant During Standoff | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Seven months after allegedly kidnapping her 11-month-old son, fleeing the state, then killing the infant during a standoff with law enforcement, a trial has been set for Madeline Daly. “There’s a special kind of evil at work here,” said the baby’s father.

Trial Set For Wyoming Woman Accused Of Kidnapping, Killing Infant During Standoff

What a 27-year-old Laramie man intended as a frustrated Facebook rant ended with a criminal conviction, five days in jail, the loss of his apartment and job, and three years of supervised probation.

Dawson Cooley was sentenced Tuesday in Albany County Circuit Court after pleading guilty last week to a reduced misdemeanor charge of sending a death threat electronically.

A Laramie man who pleaded guilty Tuesday for saying he might assassinate Gov. Mark Gordon says his Facebook rant has cost him his apartment, job and college future. Today, Dawson Cooley says, "If I could go back and not do that, I would for sure."

Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Michael P. Ramirez

Cartoonist

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Daily Cartoon: Tuesday, March 19, 2024

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Michael P. Ramirez

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