A Laramie City Council candidate is facing a felony charge after allegedly disabling Wyoming Public Radio’s (WPR) radio transmitters and remote access to them when he worked there in 2022.
Paul Montoya is facing one felony charge of committing crimes against computer users, which could mean three years in prison and up to $3,000 in fines if convicted.
Montoya had been a radio host on WPR’s “Wyoming Sounds” and Wyoming Public Media’s director of engineering at the time of the alleged events, the latter a job he held from 2015-2023, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also was the owner and general manager of KJJL and KWY radio in Cheyenne from 1994-2005, which included hosting morning shows.
According to his Facebook, Montoya stopped working at WPR in March 2023.
He will be in Albany County District Court on Tuesday for an arraignment.
Montoya did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
The Race
Montoya is running for one of the two open council seats for Ward 1 in Laramie.
One of his four opponents is Sharon Cumbie, a current Laramie City Council member and vice mayor who told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that in light of the pending felony charge, Montoya should step down from the race.
“He has a lot to deal with right now. Under the circumstances I think he should drop out,” she said. “This was not passive aggressive behavior, it was very extreme.”
Possibly most concerning about Montoya’s alleged actions, Cumbie said, is the fact that WPR broadcasts emergency alerts through the U.S. Federal Emergency Alert System, a national public warning system used to broadcast information such as Amber Alerts and weather updates.
“This wasn’t just a trick, it relates to the emergency notifications of an entire state,” she said. “It’s astounding and a pretty high degree of revenge.”
In an affidavit in his case submitted by University of Wyoming Police Detective Andrew Vielhak, the detective confirmed with Public Radio staff that Montoya had not been granted permission to access or disable the station’s transmitters.
He also learned that Montoya had been “severely angry with WPR in the past, been subject to many complaints and had a deteriorating relationship with WPR administration at the time of the incident.”
What Happened?
A warrant for Montoya’s arrest first went out in September 2023, but he was not arrested for his alleged actions until this May. It’s unclear what led to the delay.
According to the affidavit, Montoya disabled the radio towers and remote access on two days in fall 2022.
On Oct. 27, 2022, Montoya is accused of remotely logging into a computer that operates Wyoming Public Radio’s transmissions, “including radio towers, broadcasting technology and equipment, and other Wyoming Public Radio related functions.”
Montoya then remotely navigated the computer to a program that controls Public Radio’s radio transmitters and disabled them. He then logged out of the system, the affidavit says.
Eight days later on Nov. 4, 2022, Montoya allegedly struck again.
On this occasion, Montoya allegedly physically entered Wyoming Public Radio’s radio tower east of Laramie at Pilot Hill.
After accessing the workstation at this facility, Montoya once again disabled the radio transmitters and also disabled a function at the workstation that cut off remote access to the workstation, “effectively denying any other authorized user’s remote access to the computer station and rendering them unable to turn the transmitters back on remotely,” Vielhak writes.
The UW Police Department opened an investigation into the crime immediately after the incident.
Search Warrants Reveal
Vielhak said it was originally unknown who the culprit was, but two search warrants changed that, the affidavit says.
A search warrant filed with Charter Communications showed that the remote disabling was perpetrated by someone staying at the Argus Hotel in Albany, New York. Authorities confirmed with hotel staff that Montoya was staying at the hotel at the time
A second search warrant obtained for T-Mobile determined that Montoya had been physically in the geographic region of Laramie and Buford when the transmitters were turned off.
Montoya had told Vielhak and others that he was still on the East Coast when the second act took place.
He was originally charged with two felonies, but had one dropped as a result of a July 16 court filing submitted by Albany County Deputy Attorney Joel Defebaugh.
When arrested in May, Montoya was released on a $5,000 signature bond, which was first reported by the Laramie Reporter Substack on Wednesday.
Based on the dates of the candidate filing period, Montoya would have had to file his campaign on the day of his arrest or in the days following afterward.
He will have an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty to the charges at Tuesday’s hearing.
Montoya signed onto an appeal over the proposed Rail Tie Wind Project in 2022. He’s also an active member of the Albany County Republican Party.
Time To Sign Off The Campaign?
Wyoming law states that a person can serve in office unless convicted with a felony or have had his voting rights restored after a felony conviction. So, Montoya is fully eligible to continue his campaign until he is convicted of a felony.
As of Thursday afternoon, Montoya’s campaign was still active, according to Laramie City Clerk Nancy Bartholomew.
“Until there’s a conviction, we can’t do anything about it,” she said.
If he’s elected and convicted while on the council, he would be removed.
This differs from federal law, which allows someone to run for president with felonies on their record. The only limitation in that situation is that a person with felonies can't vote.
Cumbie said based on Montoya’s alleged actions, she doesn’t believe he can serve as an effective member of the Laramie City Council. Cumbie said she often gets into many heated and emotional discussions over council issues, but always returns to a place of respect by the end of the conversation.
“If he gets upset about something, rather than talk about it, he gets revenge,” Cumbie said. “If he’s capable of this, something that impacts the entire state, then I don’t what he’d be capable of when representing his constituents on the City Council.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
