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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Monday, December 16, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Monday, December 16, 2024

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Florida woman who owned a behavioral health clinic in Cheyenne has been ordered to pay back more than $870,000 to Wyoming Medicaid for bilking the federal agency with fraudulent claims.

Federal prosecutors say her daughter helped carry out the scheme by assisting with billing and falsifying service documentation while working for the clinic.

Tera Marie Campbell, 47, of Maitland, Florida, owned The Olive Branch LLC, a behavioral health clinic that provided autism services in Cheyenne and Minot, North Dakota, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said Thursday in a statement announcing the women’s sentences for conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Campbell used the business to submit fraudulent Medicaid claims over several years, including claims for services provided by employees who lacked required certifications, claims that were upcoded to higher-paying services and bills for appointments that never occurred, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Investigators said some of those claims were submitted for dates when the clinic was closed and even while Campbell was out of the country on vacation.

Campbell's daughter, Tayler Ann Krauss, 27, of McDavid, Florida, worked as the clinic's medical biller between December 2020 and October 2022. She was instrumental in providing service documentation used to support fraudulent claims.

The investigation concluded the clinic relied extensively on untrained employees, falsified certification and supervision records, and knowingly billed Wyoming Medicaid for services that did not meet Medicaid requirements, according to prosecutors.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Joint Investigation"}]

The case was investigated by the Wyoming Attorney General's Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

U.S. Attorney Darin Smith said in a statement that Medicaid fraud "steals taxpayer dollars from programs that millions of Americans depend on and undermines care for vulnerable patients.

"I am committed to holding accountable those who exploit these programs for personal gain."

Smith said his office will continue working with federal and state partners to investigate and prosecute health care fraud, saying the effort is aimed at protecting public resources and preserving confidence in the healthcare system.

Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz added in the statement that the prosecution and conviction of Campbell and Krauss demonstrates the value of cooperation between state and federal law enforcement agencies and praised the work of his office's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Smith nor Kautz responded to Cowboy State Daily's request for an interview beyond the prepared statements released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sentence Handed Down"}]

U.S. District Judge Kelly H. Rankin sentenced Krauss on Monday and Campbell on Tuesday in federal court in Cheyenne.

Campbell and Krauss were indicted May 21, 2025, and both pleaded guilty April 9 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Campbell was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Krauss was sentenced to two years of home confinement.

The judge ordered the women to jointly pay $735,717.63 in restitution to Wyoming Medicaid. Campbell was also ordered to repay $135,890.91 to the military's Tricare health care program.

The court ruled Krauss is jointly responsible for up to $71,509.44 of that amount.

Campbell was separately sentenced in January in a related North Dakota Medicaid fraud case.

In that case, she received a three-year suspended sentence, three years of supervised release and was ordered to repay an additional $225,000 to North Dakota's Medicaid program.

Federal courthouse cheyenne 9 28 23

<title>Florida Woman, Daughter Ordered To Pay Back $870K They Stole From Wyoming Medicaid | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Florida woman who ran a Cheyenne behavioral health clinic, and her daughter, have been ordered to pay back more than $870,000 they stole from Wyoming Medicaid. They funneled fraudulent claims through the clinic for years, say federal prosecutors.

Florida Woman, Daughter Ordered To Pay Back $870K They Stole From Wyoming Medicaid

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Agriculture

Jeffree Star’s favorite yak has been killed by lightning on his Casper ranch.

The social media personality, entrepreneur and “makeup mogul” 

 a 7-year-old male yak, on Thursday. The yak died June 25 after being struck by lightning on the Star Yak Ranch.

Star said his heart was “completely broken” and described Buster’s death as “one of those things you never think will happen until it does.”

“If you’ve followed my ranch journey, you already know Buster wasn’t just ‘a yak,’” he wrote. “He was the king of the pasture, the biggest lover, the snack inspector & somehow always knew exactly where I was. He had the kind of personality you just can’t explain.  You had to meet him.”

Star hoped his favorite yak was “somewhere up there stealing everyone’s treats and acting like you own the place … because let’s be real, you always did.”

Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach the Star Yak Ranch by publication time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'A Lot More Unique'"}]

Star started the 500-acre Star Yak Ranch in 2021. The ranch claims to have more than 500 yaks, some of which are processed into meat products sold online and at The Jeffree Star Store: Makeup & Meat, which opened in Casper in 2023.

Thirteen camels also live on the Star Yak Ranch. The ranch doesn’t sell any camel products.

Buster was one of the ranch’s breeding bulls. 

 of him giving Buster and some of “his ladies” some treats as recently as two weeks ago.

, Star shared a video of him scratching Buster, with the tagline, “I love animals more than people.”

[{"type":"text","text":"A still from that video was used when Star announced Buster’s death."}]

Cowboy State Daily interviewed Wade Wohl, the general manager of the Star Yak Ranch, 

“I’ve worked on a number of ranches throughout Wyoming,” Wohl said. “Mainly cattle, and I have worked around swine. Yaks have definitely been a learning process, but it’s fun. Yaks are definitely a lot more unique than a regular beef cow.”

Wohl said each of Star’s yaks ate 25 pounds of hay per day, and the herd required 4,000 to 6,000 gallons of water every two days. The Casper Landfill was eagerly taking all the yaks’ waste.

“The landfill has basically told us they will take as much manure as we can possibly give them,” he said. “That’s what they make their compost out of.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lightning Strikes"}]

All livestock are susceptible to lightning strikes, including celebrity animals.

 while out on the Chipeta Ranch near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in July 2025. The camel had been a fixture at several annual events in northern Colorado for years.

“Everybody loved Larry,” Tracy DelliQuadri, a volunteer at the Chipeta Ranch, told Cowboy State Daily. “He was a beloved member of the family, a member of the ranch, and a member of the (Troublesome Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc). He can't be and won't be replaced.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Star seemed to have similar feelings about his dearly departed yak."}]

“Love you forever, Buster,” he wrote. “Thank you for every smile you put on our faces, every memory and every moment.”

Jeffree Starr and Buster composite 7 2 26

<title>Lightning Kills Makeup Mogul Jeffree Star's Favorite Yak On Casper Ranch | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Social media personality and "makeup mogul" Jeffree Star of Casper announced Thursday that he's mourning the death of “Buster,” a 7-year-old male yak that he says "wasn't just a yak." Buster died after being struck by lightning on the Star Yak Ranch.

Lightning Kills Makeup Mogul Jeffree Star's Favorite Yak On Casper Ranch

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<title>Daily Cartoon 1: Friday, July 3, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon 1: Friday, July 3, 2026

A Cheyenne father has been charged with child endangerment after Laramie County Sheriff’s Office deputies say he repeatedly told them his infant son was asleep inside his house when instead the baby was strapped inside a hot Cadillac Escalade parked outside the home.

Jhadon Robert Michael Curry, born in 1998, made his first court appearance on Tuesday and was set for a July 31 arraignment, according to charging documents made available by the Laramie County Circuit Court on Thursday.

The investigation began when deputies were dispatched around 8:34 p.m. June 16 to a home in south Cheyenne after receiving a report of an allegedly impaired man who was about to drive away with a child in the vehicle, according to court documents.

When they arrived, Curry repeatedly insisted the baby was inside the house and not in the Escalade, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case. 

After looking for he infant for just over 30 minutes, deputies eventually found the baby crying inside the locked SUV.

The child was sweating profusely, crying loudly and "very hot to the touch,” the affidavit says. American Medical Response was called to evaluate the infant.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Empty Crib"}]

Deputy Aaron Mondragon entered the home and asked Curry where his son was, the affidavit says. Curry allegedly answered that the baby was asleep in a back bedroom.

[{"type":"text","text":"Mondragon searched the room and found only an empty crib."}]

When the deputy told Curry the baby wasn't there, the man changed his answer, saying the infant was "on the bed," the affidavit states.

[{"type":"text","text":"The deputy searched again but still couldn't find the child."}]

While deputies continued searching the home, Curry called the child's mother on speaker phone and told her he had "just put the baby to sleep," according to investigators.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Crying From SUV"}]

After searching the house a second time, Mondragon walked outside to Curry's Escalade, where he found the infant strapped into a rear-facing car seat in the locked SUV.

[{"type":"text","text":"Another deputy reported hearing the baby crying from inside the vehicle."}]

Even after deputies located the child, investigators say Curry continued insisting the infant wasn’t in the hot vehicle and inside the house.

When asked where the baby was, Curry allegedly pointed toward the residence and yelled, "Yeah! He is in there! I just put him to sleep!"

[{"type":"text","text":"Moments later, deputies asked him again."}]

"He is in the house! What are you talking about?!" Curry allegedly replied, the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Man, He's In My Car?'"}]

Deputies instructed Curry to unlock the vehicle, but he said he didn't have the keys.

After retrieving them from inside the house, Curry unlocked the Escalade with the key fob.

By that point, Mondragon had already opened the SUV and was removing the infant from the car seat.

According to the affidavit, Curry looked at the deputy and asked with surprise, "Man, he's in my car?"

[{"type":"text","text":"He then quietly added, \"I didn't get back too long ago.\""}]

The deputy who wrote the affidavit described Curry's voice had lowered in tone, "as if ashamed."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cover Story"}]

Investigators wrote that the infant was "sweating profusely, crying very loud and a lot," and was "very hot to the touch, like he had a fever."

According to the affidavit, Curry later whispered to the child's mother that he was bringing the baby to her workplace so she could breastfeed him.

The child's mother told investigators Curry had made up the explanation and asked her to repeat it to deputies, according to the affidavit.

Using a timeline compiled during the investigation, deputies concluded that the infant had been left inside the locked SUV for about 31 minutes with the windows rolled up.

Curry has been charged with one count of child endangerment, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both if convicted.

During his initial appearance Tuesday, Judge Antoinette Williams set Curry's bond at $7,500 cash only.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Danger"}]

Federal safety officials warn that children are especially vulnerable to heat inside parked vehicles because their bodies warm three to five times faster than adults.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the temperature inside a vehicle can rise about 20 degrees in as little as 10 minutes, and cracking the windows or parking in the shade does little to slow the increase.

Heatstroke begins when a child's core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees, and temperatures of 107 degrees or higher can be fatal.

Historical weather observations from the National Weather Service's Cheyenne airport station show it was about 75 degrees outside when deputies arrived that evening at Curry’s house.

The NHTSA reports there is no amount of time that is safe to leave a child unattended in a vehicle because dangerous temperatures can develop even when outdoor conditions seem relatively mild.

Jhadon Curry 7 2 26

<title>‘Very Hot To The Touch’: Cheyenne Father Accused Of Locking Baby In Hot SUV | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Cheyenne father has been charged with child endangerment after deputies say they found his infant "sweating profusely, crying very loud and a lot” inside a locked SUV. The baby also was "very hot to the touch," said investigators.

‘Very Hot To The Touch’: Cheyenne Father Accused Of Locking Baby In Hot SUV

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Government & Politics

Executive

Cheyenne’s Board of Public Utilities isn’t accepting industrial wastewater associated with data center systems until further notice after a contractor for Meta Platforms contaminated the city’s wastewater system, prompting months of cleanup.

The announcement was made by the Board of Public Utilities (BOPU) on Thursday in conjunction with naming the Meta company as the source of the initial contamination.

It also comes more than four months after the Meta company — which is building a huge $800 million data center in south Cheyenne — disrupted the city’s reclaimed wastewater system with a rare bacterial contaminant.

Goat Systems LLC was in “significant noncompliance" with the city's industrial pretreatment regulations after discharging wastewater contaminated with Cupriavidus gilardii, a bacterium that interfered with operations at the city's water reclamation facilities and contaminated the municipal reuse water system, according to the BOPU’s Thursday statement.

Goat Systems LLC is the corporate entity Meta uses for construction of its sprawling nearly 800,000-square-foot Cheyenne data center campus known during development as 

Cheyenne City Councilman Pete Laybourn said learning that the contamination originated from Meta's data center was unwelcome news.

"It's a very, very unpleasant surprise," Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily. "I have a lot yet to learn. It definitely complicates matters."

Laybourn said he has already expressed concerns about some of the arrangements the city has made with data center operators, adding that he expects the disclosure will prompt additional discussion.

"It's about the last thing we need right now," he said. "But it's a reality we're going to have to work through.”

Mayor Patrick Collins likewise expressed disappointment in Thursday's announcement.

"I think it's a disappointment to everyone involved," he told Cowboy State Daily.

Collins also praised the BOPU for catching the contamination and getting the city's sewage reuse system cleaned up. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Final Resolution'"}]

Thursday’s announcement marks the first time city officials have publicly identified the company behind the contamination, which was first discovered in February and prompted months of investigation and public speculation.

According to the statement, Goat Systems immediately stopped discharging wastewater from fill-and-flush operations at Meta's Cheyenne Data Center CHY 1-2 after being notified of the contamination.

BOPU also revoked the company's industrial discharge privileges for those operations effective March 24.

[{"type":"text","text":"The incident has led to broader changes beyond Meta's project."}]

BOPU also is suspending acceptance of industrial wastewater from data center fill-and-flush and closed-loop system operations until further notice while officials evaluate how to prevent future incidents.

The city said the action is intended to protect the integrity of Cheyenne's wastewater treatment system.

Calls to Cheyenne’s Public Utilities Office were not immediately returned Thursday.

"The BOPU appreciates the public's patience throughout this process," the agency said in the statement. "By conducting a thorough and diligent review, we have been able to reach a final resolution while ensuring continued protection and integrity of our wastewater treatment system."

A spokesman for Meta told Cowboy State Daily in an email statement that the company is working with its general contractor to "resolve this issue."

"Meta is supporting the efforts of our general contractor, Fortis, to resolve this issue with the city of Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities," the statement says. "When the board shared that it found a substance in the city's wastewater — not public drinking water — Fortis immediately stopped discharging industrial wastewater and began hauling it offsite.

"Fortis also began its own water testing with an independent environmental specialist which has found no trace of the substance," the statement adds. "Meta is committed to being a good neighbor in Cheyenne, including through the protection of local water resources, and will continue encouraging collaboration between Fortis and the board until this situation is resolved.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Months Of Questions"}]

The disclosure comes after months of questions surrounding the source of the contamination.

BOPU previously confirmed the bacterium had entered the city's wastewater treatment process through an industrial user but declined to identify the company while the investigation remained underway.

The contaminant was traced to wastewater generated during data center fill-and-flush operations, a process used to clean and test cooling systems before a facility begins operation.

Meta's Cheyenne campus, one of the largest private construction projects in the city's history, spans hundreds of acres in the High Plains Business Park and is expected to encompass roughly 800,000 square feet when completed.

 that Meta was the company behind the previously unnamed Project Cosmo development.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Questions Remain"}]

Thursday’s announcement answers one of the biggest questions surrounding the incident but leaves others unresolved.

Among them are how the BOPU intends to regulate future data center wastewater, how the suspension of accepting industrial discharges associated with data centers affects other facilities under construction in Cheyenne and whether any long-term environmental or public health impacts are expected.

Meta IMG 7791 7 2 26

<title>Cheyenne Won’t Take Data Center Wastewater After Meta Contractor Contaminated System | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Cheyenne announced Thursday it's suspended taking wastewater associated with data center systems after a Meta contractor contaminated the city’s wastewater system, prompting months of cleanup. "It's a very, very unpleasant surprise,” said a city councilman.

Cheyenne Won’t Take Data Center Wastewater After Meta Contractor Contaminated System

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

with a Cheyenne-based investigator is suing the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office 

 is obstructing justice by withholding important evidence 

Colorado-based immigration firm Lichter and Associates, and its Cheyenne-based investigator Kevin Lewis, filed the lawsuit complaint Tuesday in the Laramie County District Court.

It accuses the sheriff’s office of producing a report of an April 23 encounter and arrest that one Cheyenne Police Department records clerk called a “complete fabrication.”

It also accuses the sheriff’s office of withholding body camera and dash cam video of the incident, though the Mexican national involved in it, Mario Fabian Valenzuela Robles, allegedly needs that video to fight his ongoing immigration deportation case — and a federal 

case he’s waging in the U.S. District Court for Colorado.

Cheyenne-based attorney Drake Hill filed the suit on the 

behalf. Hill is the husband of former Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill and recently has also represented the right-leaning political group Honor Wyoming.

The lawsuit says that Lewis set out to investigate Valenzuela Robles’ law enforcement encounter and arrest, but met obstacles at nearly every juncture.

“This case presents a clear abuse of power and the violation of Wyoming statues by the Laramie County sheriff, Brian Kozak, and the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, in willfully denying access to critical evidence material to immigration proceedings and (the habeas case),” says the complaint.

On Wednesday, Hill also asked Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher to recuse himself from the case, saying Froelicher represented the sheriff’s office when he was still a litigator.

Froelicher’s response, if he’s filed one, wasn’t in the public-facing court file as of Thursday.

The lawsuit seeks to levy public records violation fines against the sheriff’s office, and urges the court to declare the sheriff’s office violated the law.

[{"type":"text","text":"First, The Detention"}]

The complaint says Lewis sought to gather evidence on Valenzuela Robles’ case for the Lichter firm and on Valenzuela Robles’ behalf.

The sheriff’s office had detained Valenzuela Robles on April 23 “as part of a wider effort directed by Defendant Kozak,” says the complaint.

An order in Valenzuela Robles’ federal wrongful-detention case says he was detained starting about April 23, through at least May 27, after a 

 police officer initiated a traffic stop on him because his taillights were “kind of dark” and his truck had “tinted windows.”

ICE agents were on scene within the span of time Valenzuela Robles took to provide his ID to the officer, he order says, adding that Valenzuela Robles asserts he was given a choice between $2,600 to return to Mexico or face ICE detention. He opted for detention, the order says.

The order recounts assertions by Valenzuela Robles that he’s lived in the U.S. for 20 years and has no criminal history, plus has three children who are U.S. citizens.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Next, The Investigator"}]

Lewis went to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office’s records department April 24 and encountered a paper sign saying it was closed, the complaint says. 

Then he went to the Cheyenne Police Department to request records. An officer whose name Hill related by the uncertain spelling of “Mooske” searched for data of the detention and found none, reportedly.

The searcher also “said the computer system also showed the sheriff’s office records and there was nothing to be found there either,” wrote Hill.

The next Monday, April 27, Lewis took a written records request to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, the complaint says. There, a staffer told him Lewis needed to show he actually represented Valenzuela Robles to view the records, says the document.

Lewis sent that letter of confirmation two days later, according to the court file.

The complaint alleges that the staffer told Lewis they “still did not have a report” on Valenzuela Robles’ arrest or detention, and for Lewis to return in a couple days.

“In the meantime,” laments the complaint, “immigration proceedings that could lead to Mr. Valenzuela Robles’ removal were moving at a very fast pace and the records were vital to his defense.”

Lewis found the sheriff’s records office closed May 1, and returned three days later, the complaint says.

A staffer again said they lacked records, the document alleges. The staffer told Lewis to provide a birth date for Valenzuela Robles, reportedly. 

The complaint claims the staffer said that there wouldn’t be arrest records if the detainee wasn’t booked physically into the jail; and that even if the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office provided a field “assist” to ICE, then ICE would be the custodian of that detainee.

Lewis asked for body and dash camera video, and the staffer allegedly said the office wouldn’t release such footage without a definitive identification of the subject. The complaint says that identification had already been provided.  

Body and dash camera video fall into a special category under Wyoming public records law.

[{"type":"text","text":"The keeper of that video shall deny release of that video except:"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Where the incident involves deadly force."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"• Where the person asking for it is the “person of interest.”"}]

• In response to a complaint against law enforcement personnel, and where the keeper of the video finds release is not contrary to the public interest.

• Or where “the interest of public safety” permits releasing that video.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Part About Cheyenne PD"}]

On May 21, says Lewis’ complaint, he visited the Cheyenne Police Department again and a staffer said CPD wasn’t involved in Valenzuela Robles’ arrest or detention.

[{"type":"text","text":"So Lewis circled back to the sheriff’s office."}]

A staffer there gave Lewis a report “purporting to document the encounter, arrest and detention of Mario Fabian Valenzuela Robles,” says the complaint.

That report, the complaint alleges, “specifically indicated there was no body camera footage,” and the report detailed the identity of a CPD officer reportedly involved in the encounter.

Lewis went back to the police department to ask about any video the agency had from that incident, says the 

. There, a Cheyenne PD staffer called “Tiffany” looked over the report and “in an emphatic manner declared the Defendants’ report to be a ‘complete fabrication,’” says the complaint.

In a Wednesday email to Cowboy State Daily, the Cheyenne Police Department acknowledged that the initial sheriff’s office report was flawed.

An immigration advocacy firm is suing the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office claiming the agency is withholding important evidence in a deportation case. The Cheyenne Police Department confirmed Wednesday that the sheriff's office had issued an inaccurate report.

Daily Cartoon: Monday, December 16, 2024

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