Accused of damaging a building and burning a camper while talking to demons, an Upton, Wyoming, man could face up to 10 years in prison.
The felony property destruction case against Jeremy Lee Hammelman-Hames, 30, rose to the felony-level Weston County District Court earlier this month, with an arraignment set for Tuesday.
The investigation started at 3 in the morning May 30 when Weston County Deputy Brice Remus went to investigate a reported vehicle crash involving a shirtless male walking eastbound along the railroad tracks in Upton.
Remus and a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper searched the area of the report’s origin but found no one, according to an evidentiary affidavit in the case written by Remus.
But at 6:50 a.m., Newcastle’s dispatch center called Remus to a damaged property report on Highway 16 at the Dan Hart Patrol Service building.
When Remus arrived, he found a 6-foot-long metal shaft near the building, the affidavit says. The deputy also reportedly noticed the building’s siding was dented and damaged and an electrical outlet had been lopped off.
The business manager invited Remus into the building to watch surveillance video from about three hours prior, the affidavit says.
Talking To The Demons
The videos show “Jeremy” wearing brown pants, a blue or grey ballcap and a grey or bluish shirt carrying a 5-gallon propane bottle and flicking a lighter near its valve, Remus wrote.
Remus didn’t write how he recognized Hammelman-Hames. However, Hammelman-Hames has some criminal history in Weston County.
Remus wrote the videos also allegedly show Hammelman-Hames doing the following:
- Slamming the bottle on the ground and yelling.
- Carrying propane bottles around.
- “Talking to the demons.”
- Pacing with his shirt unbuttoned.
- Walking away without his shirt on.
- Wielding a 6-foot-long bar in his hands and acting like he was going to ram it into the side of the building.
- “Talking to himself or demons” while walking around.
- Leaving the scene as a new fire blazes in the background.
Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach Remus by publication time to ascertain how he knew Hammelman-Hames was reportedly communicating with demons.
Not In The Mood For This
Remus went to speak with the owner at Weston Engineering, which is on the same highway, about a fire behind his building earlier that morning, the affidavit says.
The owner said he had a camper back there and his part-time hired man had been staying with it. That man was Hammelman-Hames, the owner reportedly told the deputy.
“As we came around the building there were smoldering parts of a camper and the cab of an old pickup had burned up,” recounted Remus in the affidavit.
Remus wrote that he encountered Hammelman-Hames out in the parking lot and asked to speak with him.
“No man, I’m not in the mood for this, Hammelman-Hames allegedly answered.
“I just need to ask you what’s going on,” Remus reportedly said.
Hammelman-Hames told the deputy that everyone’s out to get him, and that the fire started when he was sleeping in the camper, so he left to find water, the document relates.
As for the propane bottles on the ground nearby, Hammelman-Hames reportedly said those had been in front of the camper so he threw them off to the side. He didn’t know how the fire started, the man reportedly told the deputy, adding that, “Maybe I sleepwalk sometimes.”
Remus asked Hammelman-Hames about the damage to the Dan Hart building.
“No, I wouldn’t do that,” the latter reportedly said.
The damages to the Dan Hart building are estimated at about $2,500, including the cost to repair and replace the siding and the electrical outlet.
Remus went to arrest Hammelman-Hames, who said, “I didn’t do it but I’m willing to make payments and repair it,” the affidavit says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
