A Gillette, Wyoming, woman told her friends that her ex-boyfriend kidnapped her, so they retaliated by holding the ex-boyfriend and another man at gunpoint, pistol-whipped them and stole money, according to a criminal case filed in court Monday.
Now the four alleged attackers are facing felony kidnapping and burglary charges.
They are Eli Elbert, 44, Aaron Wells, 35, Dennis Jennings, 39, and Tanna Kirk, 30.
Campbell County Sheriff’s Deputy Sam Boyles went to a neighborhood near Gillette to answer a potential civil dispute Saturday morning. But when he got there, a woman on scene told the deputy he could handle that issue later: he needed to talk to two injured men in the area first, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed Monday in Gillette Circuit Court.
Boyle went to the men, Omar Perez-Sabag and Cesar Delgado-Monroy. They had difficulty speaking English, so a third Hispanic man translated for them, the affidavit says.
They related that at about 4:30 that morning they heard a knock on the shop door.
“It’s Bradlee,” said the knocker, reportedly.
Perez-Sabag told police he recognized the voice as belonging to Aaron Wells, whose middle name is Bradlee and whom Perez-Sabag knows.
The document says Delgado-Monroy went to the overhead garage door and cracked it open, but someone threw it open and three or four people barged into the shop dressed in black and wearing ski masks. A large beard protruded form one person’s ski mask, and Perez-Sabag noted that Wells has a “large beard,” the affidavit says.
Armed with handguns and pepper spray, the intruders allegedly pressed guns to the foreheads of Delgado-Monroy and Perez-Sabag, pepper sprayed them and ordered them to lie facedown on the ground before smacking their heads with the handgun barrels.
Investigators noted that each alleged victim had a cut on his head.
Neither man could identify who had struck him in the head.
While lying on the ground, Perez-Sabag opened his eyes and saw one of the intruders take his mask off, the affidavit says, adding that the person was bald with tattoos.
Perez-Sabag matched his memory of that face with a booking photo of Eli Elbert, the document says.
Ex-Girlfriend’s Voice
Delgado-Monroy heard a female voice in the ruckus and reportedly recognized it as that of his “most recent ex-girlfriend,” Tanna Kirk.
They heard the masked attackers speaking, but couldn’t understand what they were saying until one said, “Tet the money,” and someone rifled through Perez-Sabag’s pockets, removing $80, the affidavit says.
A person removed a red iPhone 13 from Delgado-Monroy’s pocket, reportedly. Then the figures searched the cars in the shop, but the victims didn’t believe they took anything from the cars.
The document says the attackers left after that.
Then, A Seizure
Cpl. Kyle Borgialli travelled to Wells’ home later that morning and spotted Wells and Elbert walking toward the home.
An agent (the affidavit doesn’t specify if the agent was Borgialli) told Wells there’s a warrant for his arrest, and Wells had a seizure, says the affidavit. So Wells was taken to the hospital for treatment, then released, arrested and taken to jail, reportedly.
Meanwhile, an agent read Elbert his Miranda rights, and Elbert allegedly gave an interview.
Elbert said Kirk called him up Friday night and said she was about to get high. He told her to wait and he’d pick her up, the affidavit relates.
He picked her up at a local bar and took her to his home, where Jennings and Wells were also, along with another woman.
Kirk said she was picked up by “Mexicans,” taken to a location the affidavit redacts, and that she escaped her captors through a field, Elbert reportedly told the investigator.
So Elbert, Jennings, Wells and Kirk made a plan to scare the “Mexicans” and “teach them a lesson,” says the document.
They left the home in Elbert’s white 2013 Chrysler 300 with Elbert armed with a .22-caliber black handgun and Kirk with a 9 mm black semiautomatic handgun, Elbert reportedly said.
They covered their faces with various articles of clothing, the document relates.
Kirk would later deny having a gun.
Elbert recalled striking Perez-Sabag with a handgun, and Jennings meandering around the shop looking for things but not taking anything.
The four were all “jacked up,” Elbert said. He claimed that Kirk said the two men “got what they deserved.”
A warranted search of Elbert’s home allegedly resulted in the recovery of a black .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
There To Help
That afternoon, Sgt. Martin Spencer found Dennis Jennings on 4th Avenue in Gillette, arrested him, Mirandized him and interviewed him, says the document.
Jennings said Elbert reached out to him because Elbert “needed his help,” so he met Elbert at the latter’s house and they went to the shop to teach the two men a lesson.
Jennings said Wells knocked and said, “It’s Bradlee,” and that Wells and Kirk entered the shop first. Jennings reportedly said it was his job to search the shop for other people and keep the area secure.
He said he heard Elbert tell the victims to empty their pockets. Later, they all left the shop in Elbert’s vehicle, took Kirk back to her home and then went back to Elbert’s home, Jennings said.
Jennings told investigators he didn’t receive any of the money taken.
Different Story
Kirk told a somewhat different story and went into more detail about the incident with her ex-boyfriend the day prior.
She confirmed in a Saturday evening interview that she and Delgado-Monroy had recently broken up. She said she was at a bar late Friday with some friends, when Delgado-Monroy came to talk to her, convinced her to get in his vehicle, then drove her to the shop against her will, the affidavit relates.
They talked in a back bedroom of the shop, but then other people arrived “and Kirk became scared for her welfare,” says the document.
So she ran from the shop, through a field, with Delgado-Monroy and other people chasing her, Kirk said.
She said she knocked on the door of a home and a shop but received no answer.
Delgado-Monroy caught up with her and coaxed her back into his car by promising she could hold his knife as he drove her back to the bar, Kirk said, adding that she agreed, and he dropped her back off at the bar.
As of Monday, Delgado-Monroy had not been charged with any kidnapping-related offense or any offense stemming from the weekend.
Some Disagreement About The Gun
Kirk said she told Elbert later at his home what had happened, and that he said he “had pull” and could help her. She told investigators that she figured Elbert would have a conversation with Delgado-Monroy about leaving her alone, the affidavit relates.
She denied knowing of a plan to rob the men or holding them at gunpoint, and she denied having a gun herself.
Investigators later learned that Kirk’s roommate had discovered her 9 mm pistol had been taken from her truck, allegedly.
An investigator asked Kirk why she hadn’t reported her ex-boyfriend taking her to the shop against her wishes, and she said law enforcement doesn’t take her seriously and haven’t helped her in the past, the affidavit says.
She claimed she tried to stop the assault on the two men.
The Charges
Wells faces a potential maximum of 95 years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines from one kidnapping charge, two aggravated burglary charges and one aggravated robbery charge.
Kirk and Elbert face the same slate of charges, while Jennings is charged with kidnapping conspiracy (punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $10,000 in fines) and one count of aggravated robbery conspiracy (punishable by 5-25 years in prison and $10,000 in fines).
These cases are ongoing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
