When a 26-year-old Torrington, Wyoming, man turned himself in to answer claims that he disfigured and hospitalized his girlfriend by pistol-whipping her, two old felony charges he’s evaded since he was 18 caught up to him, court documents show.
Andrew Atkinson was charged last month with aggravated assault and a smattering of other charges, on evidence that he beat his girlfriend so hard she had to be intubated. Authorities sought him for days until he turned himself in Aug. 20.
Atkinson’s case on Tuesday rose to the felony-level Goshen County District Court.
When it did, two more local felony cases followed: one for an alleged burglary and another for an alleged strangling of a different woman, both from 2016 when Atkinson was about 18 years old.
Goshen County Sheriff Kory Fleenor told Cowboy State Daily both of the 8-year-old cases fell within the Torrington Police Department’s region, and said he didn’t know how Atkinson evaded the law for so long.
Torrington Police Department Chief Matt Johnson did not immediately respond Thursday to a late-day voicemail request for comment.
Through The Glass
An affidavit filed in the burglary case claims that Atkinson, with another friend, threw a rock through a vehicle’s window May 19, 2016, reached in through the broken glass, cutting his arm, and stole more than $5,000 worth of cash and possessions.
The Runaway
Later that same year on Nov. 20, 2016, Torrington PD sent officers to a report of a domestic assault. Responding officers found a woman with friends, crying with red marks and scratches on her neck, says the affidavit in that case.
She’d been hanging out with Atkinson, who was her boyfriend, at his mother’s Torrington home. He woke her early because he’d gone through her phone and was angry; he started screaming foul words at her, the affidavit says.
When she scrambled to get her things and leave, he scooped her up behind her knees and under her shoulders and dropped her on the concrete outside, the document alleges.
She cried on the concrete.
He returned to her, wrapped a belt around her neck and tightened it, the woman told police at the time. The document says that when she scratched at her own neck to loosen it he’d tighten it more.
Officers went to Atikinson’s friend’s house to find him, where someone spotted a male climbing out of the window and running across the back yard. Agents gave him numerous commands to stop but he kept running and “was never apprehended,” says the affidavit.
Or, A Couple Hundred Thousand Dollars
Atkinson’s attorney Joe Bustos wrote to Torrington Circuit Court Judge Nathaniel Hibben on Aug. 21 to request a lenient bond.
“Some delay” in Atkinson not self-surrendering sooner — presumably in his most recent case — may be attributed to difficulties the attorney had in getting information about his case, Bustos wrote in the email.
Bustos said he had trouble getting Atkinson’s documents from the court clerks and from Goshen County Attorney Eric Boyer.
Boyer did not immediately respond Thursday to a voicemail request for comment.
Bustos argued that Atkinson is a “lifelong resident of Torrington,” has a young child and numerous family members in the area. Attorneys often point to a defendant’s connection to the community as proof that he’s not a flight risk in an effort to get a lower bond.
Atkinson also has a job available to him if he’s allowed to leave the state for work, Bustos wrote.
“(He’s) demonstrated his intent to see these cases through properly by retaining private counsel and self-surrendering at the jail,” wrote Bustos.
The email’s not clear on what “low” bond Bustos had in mind, but Hibben ordered a $221,775 cash-only bond in the case, the Goshen County Sheriff’s office reported.
Bustos did not immediately respond to a Thursday-afternoon message left with his office.
Here Recently
The most recent investigation started at about 9:30 a.m. Aug. 4, when Sheriff Kory Fleenor received a call from a social services worker who said Atkinson’s ex-girlfriend had been the victim of a domestic incident, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed at the time.
The woman and her child were both taken to the Banner Health emergency room in Wheatland. But the woman was later transferred to a different hospital for a higher level of care. A Cheyenne Police Department officer interviewed her along with Goshen County Sheriff’s Lt. Herb Irons, the document says.
The woman said that she and Atkinson were at a party the evening before at Atkinson’s mother’s home in Lingle.
She and Atkinson left the home at about 8 p.m. in a 2023 white Toyota Corolla Cross with Atkinson driving, and the woman and her child together in the back seat, says the affidavit.
They soon parked the vehicle briefly, and he reportedly started having a verbal argument with the woman. Then Atkinson started pulling her hair and yanking her around, the document alleges.
The affidavit says Atkinson pulled the car over again in a field a short while later and started punching the woman in the face multiple times, then smacked her head with a 9 mm Glock handgun until she lost consciousness.
He strangled her neck with his hands for about 10 seconds, causing her to lose consciousness yet again, the document alleges.
When she regained consciousness, she reportedly picked up her child, exited the vehicle and tried to run north toward a barn.
Fled With Child
She told police she was scared Atkinson was going to kill her.
She tripped twice while running, and Atkinson caught up to her, the document says.
He took their child and started to walk back toward the parked vehicle. The woman ran back toward him, and he allowed her to hold the child again, the document indicates, though the child’s name is redacted.
At that moment, Atkinson shoved the woman and the child, causing them both to fall to the ground, the affidavit says.
The document says the woman walked back to the car and the trio rode away with Atkinson driving.
He drove to the 7800 block of Road 27 where he again stopped the vehicle and made the woman get out. Then he started to punch and kick her in the face and chest area as she lay on the ground, says the affidavit.
He got into the vehicle and left, headed southbound on Road 27.
The woman stayed on the ground for about 20 seconds until she was sure Atkinson had gone, then she got up and ran into a corn field to the west, making it back to the highway.
The affidavit doesn’t say whether the woman’s child was with her all along, but it says Atkinson’s mother intercepted them both and took them both to the emergency room.
Whole Body Bruised And Cut
The woman sustained a punctured or collapsed lung. Her entire body was bruised and cut, including her feet, the document says. She also had two black eyes nearly swollen shut, court documents say.
The document says the woman’s face was bruised with hematomas and appeared disfigured. She received 15 staples and four sutures to her head from being pistol whipped, says the affidavit.
Medical personnel put a chest tube into the woman’s lung, a result of being kicked in the chest, reportedly.
The child had lacerations to her forehead that were treated and documented, the affidavit says.
In this most recent case, Atkinson is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, one count of strangling a household member and a fourth count of child abuse, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
