Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"There are two types of dogs...."}]

Smile 8 17 24

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

<title>Daily Smile: Saturday, August 17, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

There are two types of dogs....

Daily Smile: Saturday, August 17, 2024

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

A Gillette man faces eight felony charges related to alleged sexual assaults and beatings he gave a woman, during which he reportedly called her his “little beat victim.”

Luke K. Busca is charged with five counts of sexual assault in the first degree and three counts of strangulation of a household member stemming from his alleged actions recently against a woman who had been living with him at his residence for a month, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing Tuesday before Gillette Circuit Court Judge Greg Steward.

Court officials released Busca's name late Wednesday after using his initials during the hearing.

The five sexual assault in the first degree charges all carry a penalty of not less than five years or more than 50 years in prison. The strangulation of a household member charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Gillette Police Department Detective Sgt. Ryan Mahylis testified Tuesday that when police initially contacted the woman Aug. 1 at a friend’s residence they found her with a black eye on the right side of her face and injuries along her left jawline. She also had bite marks and bruises, and was complaining about pain to her abdomen and rib area.

Mahylis said the incident on the evening of July 31 started with an argument about incense burning in a sink. Busca told the woman that he was going to a friend’s home. When he returned around 2 a.m., he found the door locked and became angry.

Once in the bedroom, Mahylis told County Attorney Nathan Henkes, the woman said Busca made sexual advances that she refused. He then allegedly grabbed her by the hair and threw her face down on the bed, put her in a choke hold and began to sexually assault her from behind with his fingers.

Mahylis testified that the woman told police after the sexual assault she was able to kick him off but during the struggle he tried to hit her and then head-butted her. She was then told to leave the residence.

“She had indicated that she had no ability to leave due to not having a ride and Busca had indicated to her that people have been shot for not leaving a residence,” Mahylis said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Message To Friends"}]

The victim then left the residence and walked to a park, where she tried to contact friends and was unsuccessful. About 3:30 a.m. she received a message from Busca to return to the residence.

Mahylis testified that police officers confirmed the victim had sent messages as well as photos of her injuries to others.

The woman returned to the residence, where it “became a continuation of the previous assault,” Mahylis said.

The woman told police he tried to force her to perform oral sex on him and then grabbed her by the hair and threw her on the bed. While she was in a chokehold, he allegedly used his fingers to assault her sexually and then turned her over and raped her, Mahylis testified.

Mahylis said the woman was told to stop fighting and when he threw her on her back to assault her sexually he also placed his hand around her neck and continued to strangle her. At some point, the woman told police, Busca asked her if she knew how easy it would be for him to “break” her neck.

The two then eventually fell asleep and the woman woke up and remained at the residence. She told police she was doing laundry when Busca woke up and told her that “he didn’t get to finish” and “wanted her to finish him,” referring to a sexual act, Mahylis said.

Mahylis said the woman also noticed a firearm that was normally on a nightstand and asked if he had thought about “murking”, or killing, her.

“He had indicated that he thought about it,” Mahylis said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'My Little Beat Victim'"}]

Mahylis also confirmed that as part of the conversation between the two after Busca awoke, he asked the woman: “How is my little beat victim? Did you learn your place?”

Gillette police learned of the incident after being called to the house of one of the woman’s friends Aug. 1, when she reported the incident.

The woman was taken to Campbell County Memorial Hospital for an examination by a qualified SANE nurse to obtain any evidence of a sexual assault. The woman complained of pain and vaginal bleeding, Mahylis said.

When officers went to Busca’s residence they found him outside. He initially told officers he had been at a friend’s house and returned about 2 a.m. He indicated he had taken medications and did not recall what happened after that, Mahylis said.

Mahylis said after Busca's arrest and a search warrant, officers searched the home and found a bottle of trazodone and a prescription for 45 pills. When they counted the pills, 45 remained in the container.

Mahylis testified that Busca changed his story and later admitted he lied about coming home, taking the medications, and passing out.

After the detective’s testimony, Henkes asked Steward to upgrade a reckless endangerment charge to strangulation of a household member. 

Defense attorney Ronald Wirthwein objected and said the affidavit did not indicate that breathing was impeded, it only referred to “shaking the throat and windpipe back and forth but no indication of an impeding of breathing or blood.”

The judge ruled the charge could be upgraded to strangulation.

Steward then told Busca he was sending the case to district court, where he would be arraigned and able to make a plea. He asked him if he had any questions.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“No, your honor,” Busca said."}]

Gillette police scaled

<title>Gillette Man Accused Of Raping Woman, Calling Her His 'Little Beat Victim' | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Gillette man who allegedly raped a woman and called her his “little beat victim” was charged Tuesday with eight felonies. Investigators say the woman had a black eye, bite marks, bruises, and rib and abdomen pain.

Gillette Man Accused Of Raping Woman, Calling Her His 'Little Beat Victim'

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Around Wyoming

Public Safety

A violent storm ripped through southern Campbell County on Wednesday afternoon, tearing roofs from buildings, demolishing a vacant mobile home, flipping a camper upside down and requiring emergency crews to rescue four people from a damaged home.

Whether it was a tornado isn't official yet, but witnesses might have caught something on video, Campbell County Fire Marshal Stuart Burnham told Cowboy State Daily.

The storm struck near Rattlesnake Road and South Highway 59 shortly after noon, leaving pieces of roofs and other debris scattered across the rural landscape.

"Crews were called out to South Highway 59 near Rattlesnake Road (at about 12:36 p.m.) for a report of occupants stuck in a residence due to a possible tornado," Burnham said.

When firefighters arrived, Burnham said, crews were able to help the four people out of the house. All four were evaluated by emergency medical personnel, and Burnham said he did not believe anyone suffered significant injuries.

Firefighters then began working through the surrounding neighborhood, checking other damaged properties to make sure nobody else was trapped or hurt.

"We have not located anybody with significant injuries, fortunately," Burnham said.

By midafternoon, the response was beginning to wind down as officials turned their attention toward recovery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Roofs Ripped Off"}]

Photos from the area show metal roofing ripped from structures, debris scattered across fields and the camper thrown onto its side.

"The structure that sustained the most damage, yeah, the roof was removed from it," Burnham said. "There are multiple buildings with roofs that have been removed. There was a mobile home that was demolished as well. However, that mobile home was vacant."

[{"type":"text","text":"Exactly how many properties were damaged was unknown Wednesday afternoon."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Multiple,\" Burnham said."}]

Crews were still surveying the neighborhood, and some damage might not be discovered until property owners return home and inspect their land and buildings.

Powder River Energy Corp. was checking electrical infrastructure throughout the affected area.

The storm had moved out of Campbell County shortly after 2 p.m., and officials said there was no longer an immediate threat. South Highway 59 remained open.

[{"type":"text","text":"The American Red Cross was also preparing to help."}]

Robby Gallob said the organization was "working to get into contact with the primary family affected."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Did A Tornado Touch Down?"}]

The original emergency call reported a possible tornado, but nobody had called Campbell County's 911 center to report actually seeing a funnel, Burnham said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Highway 59 is heavily traveled, making that absence notable."}]

"That's not to say that there wasn't one," Burnham said. "It just wasn't necessarily noticed."

[{"type":"text","text":"Officials were beginning to find potential evidence Wednesday afternoon."}]

Burnham said responders were talking with people who had been in the area, and shortly before speaking with Cowboy State Daily he had watched a couple of videos taken during the storm.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It looks like they may have had something on camera,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Those videos could now help meteorologists piece together what happened."}]

The National Weather Service office in Rapid City, South Dakota, will make the official determination about whether a tornado touched down.

Campbell County officials were coordinating with NWS on a damage assessment, but Burnham didn't yet know when meteorologists would arrive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Familiar Date"}]

Exactly 21 years earlier, on Aug. 12, 2005, one of Wyoming's deadliest tornadoes tore through Wright, about 30 miles south of Gillette.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jim Konyn remembers that afternoon."}]

He wasn't in Wright, he was working at Midway Supply in Gillette, an oilfield supply company located off Lakeway Road.

[{"type":"text","text":"Konyn and his coworkers happened to be outside when the sirens began."}]

From Gillette, they couldn't quite see the tornado, Konyn recalled, but they could see the storm looming in the distance.

[{"type":"text","text":"The next day, Konyn had to travel through the Wright area."}]

"I've been here for a long time, and I just remember that day because there's a lot of damage," he said.

The tornado Konyn remembers touched down north of Wright before moving southeast into town and striking the Cottonwood Mobile Home Park.

The Wyoming State Climate Office said the F2 tornado killed two people and injured 13. About 40 mobile homes were destroyed. 

Twenty-one years later, Konyn was again watching severe weather move across Campbell County.

Wednesday morning and early afternoon brought rain, lightning and thunder around Gillette, he said. Then a severe thunderstorm warning appeared for Campbell County.

Konyn recalled the warning tracking the storm from around Savageton toward the area between Gillette and Wright and the mines. He said the warning mentioned hail around the size of ping pong balls.

"They never said no tornado," he said. "They just said a severe storm."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Campbell County Tornadoes"}]

Two summers ago, an EF2 tornado struck the North Antelope Rochelle Mine south of Gillette, flipping vehicles and empty railroad cars and tearing portions of roofs and walls from mine buildings.

[{"type":"text","text":"Seven people were injured, but nobody was killed."}]

Then, just seven weeks ago, on June 22, another EF2 tornado crossed Campbell County between the Savageton and Wright areas.

The National Weather Service estimated its peak winds at 115 mph. It traveled nearly 13 miles, damaged a home and snapped more than a dozen power poles. No injuries or deaths were reported.

Now Campbell County is waiting to learn whether Aug. 12 will be added to that list.

For the moment, Burnham said the important news was that despite the destruction responders had not found anyone seriously hurt.

Tornado 1 8 13 26

<title>Suspected Tornado Rips Through Campbell County, Leaving Widespread Property Damage | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Suspected Tornado Rips Through Campbell County, Leaving Widespread Property Damage

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

Greg Johnson

Government & Politics

Politics

CHEYENNE — Using license plate reader technology to track down and arrest a Laramie County suspect on allegations of sexual abuse of a child has fanned an already smoldering debate over protecting the public at the expense of violating personal privacy.

The Cheyenne Police Department extolls the former position in a Tuesday statement announcing the arrest of an alleged child sex abuser.

“A detective with the Cheyenne Police Department was able to utilize a license plate reader in Northern Colorado to locate a person who was from Cheyenne and wanted on felony sexual abuse of a minor charges on a case originating with the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office.”

The CPD didn’t identify the suspect, citing Wyoming laws about releasing names of sex abuse suspects, but said that the license plate readers helped facilitate “the arrest of this dangerous individual.”

“Within 48 hours of the CPD detective looking for the suspect, conducting interviews, and utilizing license plate reader technology he was found and arrested,” the agency reports.

A vocal opponent of the use of Flock brand license plate readers in Cheyenne said that while getting dangerous people off the streets is always the best outcome, it shouldn’t happen at the cost of the personal rights of everyone.

“We will never argue the cameras don’t work,” said Ted Hanlon, chairman of the Laramie County Democratic Party and candidate for state Senate District 5.

Hanlon has led local pushback against the use of license plate readers, including presenting a petition with nearly 800 signatures opposing them to the Cheyenne City Council about six months ago.

The one thing supporters and opponents of the technology seem to agree upon is that license plate readers work.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A ‘Conundrum’"}]

“Police departments across the nation like them because they do work,” Hanlon told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “And that’s my reason for not using them.

“It seems particularly in Wyoming that this is a bad solution. We appreciate our individualism and freedom.”

Put simply, Hanlon said he thinks personal privacy rights trump public safety because in order to achieve that safety, it puts everyone under “Big Brother-like” surveillance.

“You’re always weighing personal freedom against safety, and that’s the law enforcement conundrum,” he said. “We can all give up personal freedoms in the name of safety, but where do you draw the line on that?

“I’ve thought about it a lot. The police department talks about Flock cameras in terms of if everything goes right with them, and I talk about them in terms of if something goes wrong.”

The chances of everything going right without anything going wrong “is almost zero,” Hanlon added.

Tuesday’s example helps prove both points of view, he said. It’s a great example of finding a suspect in less than 48 hours after being spotted by a license plate reader.

“My argument would be that if you can find this person in 48 hours using this tech, you can find anybody,” Hanlon said. “That is the privacy concern, that if you or I drive through Cheyenne right now, these license plate readers are going to take pictures of our cars, and theoretically we haven’t done anything wrong.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not The Big Brother It’s Made Out To Be"}]

The Cheyenne Police Department said there’s some misinformation about the scope and nature of the agency’s use of license plate readers (LPRs).

Police don’t use them to do random sweeps and need a reason to be looking for specific vehicles tied to suspects or people of interest in potential crimes, CPD Sgt. Matt Coulson told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.

“Our agency uses them as an investigative tool, along with other investigative tools,” he said, adding that they don’t go on fishing expeditions.

“The LPRs give us an ability to locate vehicles identified as being associated to those individuals,” he said.

In this latest case, a warrant for the suspect’s arrest was issued two weeks prior and there were other attempts to locate him, Coulson said.

By using license plate readers, “we were able to narrow (where the suspect was) down to a specific city and an area of that city where he was frequently driving that car,” he said.

 to Hanlon and city officials during a February City Council meeting.

The cameras reading license plates aren’t new and have been in use for decades around the United States, he said. The Flock brand readers are relatively new, however.

Francisco said the concern over the cameras he hears most is about privacy issues and questions about whether the cameras violate the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against unreasonable search and seizure by the government and ensures rights to privacy.

“I understand where they’re coming from,” Francisco said. “We do live in a society now that everything you do and say is tracked.” 

But, he said, the cameras are not set up to do some of those things people fear that they do. The cameras are placed at public intersections and take still photos of vehicles and their license plates.

“None of these are in neighborhoods,” Francisco said. “The notion that these things could follow you from your home to your travel destination is just not accurate.”

Coulson agreed, saying that people who know they’re wanted will deliberately avoid areas with LPRs.

“People just hear we can locate anybody at any time, and that’s not true,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Change The People’"}]

If the city won’t adjust or stop its use of license plate readers, Hanlon said people should elect public officials who will.

“We live in interesting times, right?” he said. “The problem I’ve had getting anywhere with the City Council is everything they’ve done the past six to eight months is so controversial, their meetings go to 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning.”

Without LPRs on the agenda, that means the issue of the readers is usually not discussed or brought up so late nobody is lucid enough to discuss it.

“We’ve made it clear to candidates that we’re supporting people who appreciate privacy issues,” Hanlon said. “If you can’t change the people, change the people.”

For his part, Chief Francisco said that everybody is being watched by cameras, and that privacy rights when out in public aren’t the same as in your house.

“As we all know, you give up some of your privacy rights when you’re in public,” he told the council. “Every store you go in is videotaping you.”

Francisco called the cameras one of the greatest technology advances in his 36-year law enforcement career. The primary purpose of the cameras, he said, is to double down on crime in Cheyenne.

They are fantastic for situations like Amber Alerts, missing people and wanted people associated with vehicles, he said.

“Crime these days is so mobile and transitory,” Francisco said. “Every day these cameras are helping us solve crime.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"It’s The ‘Perception’"}]

Councilman Pete Laybourne said he has “full faith” in the city’s police department and has no worries that it’s using Flock cameras in an underhanded way.

But because people have those doubts, the cameras aren’t worth losing “the trust of the public,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

“Our police department is not spying on people and is not misusing this system,” he added. “But I believe we should terminate the contract (with Flock) and acknowledge it’s not worth it.

“We’re losing the trust of the public in our police department, and I don’t think that’s really justified. But the belief is that we’re spying on them.”

Because there is a large outcry against LPRs, Laybourne said he believes that “it hasn’t worked out … because the belief is that we’re spying on them.”

Laybourne said his belief that the Flock contract shouldn’t be renewed has nothing to do with the CPD.

“We tried this technology, there was certainly success with it,” he said. “But I don’t believe those successes justify the continuation.

“That perception is poisonous and dangerous, and that’s why I think we ought to terminate that contract.”

Flock inset 2 8 12 26

<title>Supporters Say Cheyenne License Plate Readers Work; Opponents Say That’s The Problem | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Supporters of license plate readers in Wyoming say they work, and opponents agree — saying that’s the problem. Getting dangerous people off the streets is the best outcome, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of everyone's personal rights, says one opponent.

Supporters Say Cheyenne License Plate Readers Work; Opponents Say That’s The Problem

A 37-year-old Casper man faces potential prison time for allegedly driving a Polaris UTV side-by-side while intoxicated and causing serious injury to a passenger who fell off while sitting in the back on a cooler.

Michael Ray Watts is charged with driving under the influence with serious bodily injury after the incident Saturday evening in Alcova. A preliminary hearing on the charge is set for Aug. 27.

An arrest affidavit states that the victim as of Sunday was still on life support and had significant head injuries. Attempts to obtain an updated condition report Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Court records show Natrona County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of 24000 Lakeshore Drive about 8 p.m. Saturday for a report of a vehicle accident. They found a male on the ground bleeding from the face and head with significant injuries.

As two deputies administered first aid, they lost the victim’s pulse and began CPR.

“Soon after the CPR was administered the male regained consciousness,” the affidavit states. “Deputies continued to render aid until Natrona County fire personnel arrived and took over care of the patient.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Accelerated On Incline"}]

During an interview with Watts, he shared with a deputy that they was driving a 2021 Polaris RZR 1000 turbo when the victim came off the RZR. During the interview, the deputy could see that Watts eyes were bloodshot and glossy and he smelled of alcohol, the affidavit states.

Watts initially told the deputy that he two beers and a shot but later admitted to drinking two shots, four beers, and four or five Ranch Water cocktails.

Watts said he and two men and two women had been drinking at Alcova Lakeside Marina and just before 8 p.m. left with Watts driving the RZR. The victim and two women were sitting in the back on a cooler.

“Watts advised that he drove under the speed limit on Lakeshore Drive. When Watts turned into a trailer park … he stepped on the gas to go up an incline on the road,” the affidavit states. “Watts heard one of the females advise that (the victim) fell off.”

Watts told the deputy he stopped and got out to check on the man. Deputies arrived shortly after the incident.

Watts said one of the females told him the man slid off as he accelerated, but he did not see the man fall off.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Failed Field-Sobriety Test"}]

A field-sobriety test showed Watts could not maintain his balance, could not walk heel-to-toe, or walk a straight line. He also could not follow a direction to turn, swayed while trying to balance on one leg, hopped to balance, used his arms to balance and put his foot down — failing several field-sobriety tests.

Watts agreed to a chemical breath test at the Natrona County Detention Center at 10:16 p.m., two hours after the incident. He blew a .16% blood alcohol content, well above the legal limit of 0.08%.

The driving under the influence with serious bodily injury charge carries a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of not less than $2,000 or more than $5,000 or both.

Watts is currently free on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

Alcova michael watts 8 12 26

<title>Casper Man Charged With Driving UTV Drunk; Passenger On Life Support After Fall | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper man faces prison time after authorities say he drove a side-by-side while intoxicated and caused a passenger to fall off a cooler in the back. The passenger is on life-support after sustaining head injuries in the fall at Alcova Reservoir.

Casper Man Charged With Driving UTV Drunk; Passenger On Life Support After Fall

Courts

A Tinder date gone horribly wrong ended with a Newcastle man dead with a hollow-point round in his chest and a South Dakota man facing a second-degree murder charge — and vastly different stories from the couple who had just met for a hook-up.

The woman Drake Alexander Ingalls of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, had driven nearly 90 minutes to meet this past weekend told investigators that Ingalls “did not need to shoot that gun at all.”

Ingalls, however, says he shot the other man in defense of his Tinder date after the woman screamed for “help” several times, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Zack Miller.

The shooting happened a little before 5 a.m. Sunday, and Ingalls had his initial court appearance Tuesday, where a Weston County Circuit Court judge gave him a $250,000 cash-only bond and set an Aug. 19 preliminary hearing.

By the time Newcastle police responded to the home of the victim, identified in court documents as Jason Greene, he was lying face-down on the floor and obviously dead, wrote Miller.

An officer “entered the trailer home and located the victim … lying face-down on the floor between the hallway and living room with a large pool of blood underneath his chest,” the affidavit says. “Officers and emergency medical personnel confirmed Greene was deceased.”

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

In separate interviews with the woman and Ingalls, both told investigators how they met on Tinder and had been talking for anywhere from a couple weeks (according to her) to a few months (according to him) before Ingalls drove to Newcastle on Saturday so they could meet up, the affidavit says.

They had a room at a local hotel and had been drinking for hours by the time the woman got a text from Greene calling her a “whore,” Miller wrote.

The woman then allegedly proceeded to claim Greene had mistreated her, but later told investigators that Greene had “never assaulted her and the two were not in any physical altercation,” the affidavit says.

Upset after getting the text, the woman asked Ingalls to take her to Greene’s place “so she could talk to him,” Miller wrote.

The woman “told Ingalls about the text message and that Greene had abused her in the past,” the affidavit says. “(She) told Ingalls that if he heard her yell for help to come and help her.”

Greene didn’t know they were coming to his residence, the document adds. Miller’s affidavit also doesn’t elaborate on how the woman and Greene knew each other.

The woman and Greene were in a “heated verbal argument” with her “yelling loudly,” which Ingalls reportedly heard, the affidavit says. So, he left his car outside the trailer and went to the woman.

The woman also told investigators that she didn’t actually see the shooting, “and adamantly stated Greene never assaulted her and the two were not in any physical altercation,” the affidavit says.

She continued to say that Ingalls “did not need to shoot that gun at all,” Miller wrote about her statement.

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

That’s not how the confrontation went down, however, Ingalls said in his own interview with investigators, the affidavit says.

Daily Smile: Saturday, August 17, 2024

In case you missed it

More in Daily Smile

Daily Smile: Thursday, August 13, 2026

Daily Smile: Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Daily Smile: Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Daily Smile: Monday, August 10, 2026

Most read