A towering Cheyenne, Wyoming, man whom many business owners dread for his tendency to “hex” and threaten them while wielding a staff is now facing a felony charge on claims he tore up documents at an election center in the city a couple weeks before last week’s primary.
Joshua Hayden-Ali, 43, has frustrated many Cheyenne business owners for years, especially in the historic downtown area. Those who spoke with Cowboy State Daily said he stands 6-foot-4, calls himself “Wisdom” and wields a large staff like a rifle and pretends to shoot people.
He also spews death threats and behaves as though he’s hexing them, shop owners told Cowboy State Daily in May.
The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hayden-Ali in June on claims that he threatened to kill a Safeway Fuel Station attendant and her family while he accosted the attendant at the station on South Greeley Highway.
But Hayden-Ali did not remain in jail long. His court file doesn’t say when he bonded out, but he was soon charged again on suspicion of causing chaos at an election center in Cheyenne on Aug. 6.
That case rose to the felony-level Laramie County District Court on Friday.
Court Documents Say …
Laramie County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ramon Colvert was assigned to work court security Aug. 6 at the Laramie County Courthouse on West 20th Street. He received a phone call at midday from a woman who works in the coffee shop inside the same building’s atrium, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case six days later.
The barista’s work area is in full view of the voting area at the atrium, the document says.
“He was here,” the woman said twice, referring to Hayden-Ali, with whom she’s reportedly had ongoing concerns and encounters that leave her feeling uneasy.
Colvert went to deal with the situation and met with a voting official, Charles Simineo, who was running down the hall to report that Hayden-Ali had just walked into the building carrying a large wooden staff, clicking it onto the tile floor with each step, the document says.
“Ali walked purposefully into the election area,” the affidavit continues, “ignoring the election officials, and proceeded into the area where other individuals were voting.”
The document says election officials asked him to leave the area, but he disregarded them.
“He tore up printed election materials he had picked up off the rack and threw them on the floor,” the affidavit adds.
Wyoming's Primary Election did not happen until Aug. 20, but the Laramie County clerk opened a polling place in the courthouse to early voters starting July 23.
Hey, Now
Colvert confronted Hayden-Ali as the latter rounded the soda vending machines and approached the security desk. Hayden-Ali looked startled and tried to walk past the deputy, says the affidavit.
Colvert raised his hand and asked Hayden-Ali to stop and talk to him, but did not touch him, according to the deputy’s account.
Enraged, Hayden-Ali reportedly cursed at Colvert and stepped even closer to the security desk.
The affidavit says a female deputy stationed at the desk asked Hayden-Ali to leave, as he started throwing items to the ground and calling her foul names. She also asked him to tone down the profanity since there were children present in a nearby waiting area for title and registration services.
The female deputy then ordered Hayden-Ali to leave the building, and he reportedly did.
The affidavit says that on June 29, authorities had trespassed, or banned, Hayden-Ali from the courthouse due to numerous prior incidents of disruptive and threatening behavior until the year 2033. He wasn’t to visit there except for legitimate business.
Hayden-Ali said he came to the courthouse to see his public defender, Colvert recalled. But a call to the public defender’s office revealed that Hayden-Ali did not have an Aug. 6 appointment there, says the document.
The Election System
During the incident, at least one voter at the courthouse said he or she was concerned for the safety of election officials, the document says.
Intimidating people to interfere with an election is a misdemeanor in Wyoming, punishable by up to six months in jail. But if a person does it knowingly and willfully, it’s chargeable as a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
The Laramie County District Attorney’s Office originally charged Hayden-Ali on Aug. 12 with three misdemeanors of criminal trespass, breach of peace and election intimidation. But the office upgraded the third charge to a felony one day later, accusing Hayden-Ali of trying “to impede or prevent the free exercise of the elective franchise or the impartial administration of the election code.”
A woman posted Hayden-Ali’s bond earlier this month.
Hayden-Ali did not respond Tuesday to a voicemail message requesting comment.
Meanwhile, Hayden-Ali’s breach of peace case from the Safeway incident is scheduled for a Nov. 4 scheduling conference.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
