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[{"type":"text","text":"When the spiked eggnog kicks in......"}]

Herald 12 29 24

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

<title>Hark The Herald: Sunday, December 29, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

When the spiked eggnog kicks in......

Hark The Herald: Sunday, December 29, 2024

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

The Wyoming Business Council’s toughest critic in the Legislature says he was mostly relieved, though still fiercely curious, after the state Department of Audit released its report on the council late Wednesday.

Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, made headlines in 2025 when he announced a goal to eliminate the 

 government-funded entity that gives grants and loans to communities and businesses.

Pendergraft tried to fulfill his promise by spearheading the elimination effort in a January budget-planning session of the Joint Appropriations Committee, of which he’s the House side vice-chair.

The full Legislature rejected the proposition. But it cut 

 the WBC to one year of operational funding and specified that the Department of Audit should probe 

That was amid a larger, philosophical clash between lawmakers about whether the government should be involved in stimulating the economy and enticing business.

Now Pendergraft and other outright opponents of the WBC’s existence are shouldering the compromise the Legislature has placed upon them: investigating and reforming the council instead of killing it.

The Department of Audit describes accounting methods and issues across a nearly seven-year span, starting July 1, 2019, and ending in March of this year. Early in that period, WBC became a conduit for a large infusion of federal money related to the COVID pandemic.

“Based on that review, we found the WBC ultimately accounted for and expended funds in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), receiving unmodified audit opinions,” says the report. “However, these clean opinions were only achieved after private auditors identified material misstatements requiring significant audit adjustments.”

The report identifies some “material weaknesses,” corrections, and negligible levels of missing expenditure documentations.

On the one hand, Pendergraft told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday, he’s relieved. The report concludes that WBC doesn’t have unknown or private bank accounts.

“One of the reasons we brought (this audit) up was, in committee last year it was brought up there was a possibility they could have accounts we don’t even know about,” said Pendergraft. “It appears, from what we see here, that that is not the case. I’m relieved by that.”

On the other hand, he said, the issues the report details “did leave me with some questions.” He said he plans to question and study those issues.  

Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell told Cowboy State Daily in his own Thursday interview that the WBC has answers.

The report says independent audits for fiscal years 2024 and 2025 showed material weaknesses requiring multi-million-dollar corrections, including a $3.4 million expense over accrual, and a later $810,130 adjustment regarding reimbursement tracking.

It also says WBC had a $2.2 million adjustment to cover “improperly recognized revenue in the General Fund,” which is the state’s checking account.

A large broadband provider was working with WBC on a pay-as-you-go basis to install broadband infrastructure, Dorrell told Cowboy State Daily.

Instead of filing its expense documentation for timely reimbursement, the provider held onto that documentation for around six months then filed for reimbursement all at once, said Dorrell.

It’s like forgetting to bill one’s boss for a business expense until months later, he said, adding that the reimbursement issue was an “accounting issue.”

As for the second issue the report notes, the $2.2 million adjustment to cover revenue in the state’s checking account, that was a lapse exposed as WBC shifted from one accounting method to another, Dorrell said.

“For I think about 10 years, we’ve been recognizing revenue in a certain way. Our auditors recommended we recognize that revenue in another way,” he said.

The transition makes the numbers look sloppy, said Dorrell, “but again, no funds were misused or lost or anything like that. That change has been propagated as well.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Does It Even Matter?"}]

Pendergraft didn’t set out to reform the agency. But as an appropriator working under this year’s interim priorities, that’s his duty now.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s fine, he said."}]

“I’ve said before, I’m also a pragmatist. OK, I didn’t get my way. I didn’t get to eliminate it. I still have some philosophical issues with it,” said Pendergraft, adding that it’s “absolutely reprehensible” that WBC gives grants to certain businesses. That’s not the proper function of government and taxpayers’ money, especially when some businesses might benefit over others, he added.

Still, Pendergraft said, it’s better to be included in the reform conversation than not.

“So it’s, you know, the C-word that everybody hates: compromise,” he said. “If I were to be excluded from that conversation, the final resting place would be a lot further to where they’re at now, than if there were any changes at all.”

The Appropriations Committee is considering a draft bill to eliminate around 13 WBC programs – many of those at the WBC’s suggestion, but at least two over its objections.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s a “small victory,” said Pendergraft."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The Missing Receipts"}]

The report says one out of 222 total transactions – or half a percentage point – contained discrepancies in which the underlying invoices or documents didn’t match the entry WBC put in the Wyoming Online Financial System (WOLFS). That error totaled $316.32.

WBC countered in a Wednesday letter to Gov. Mark Gordon, the members of the Joint Appropriations Committee and the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee.

Gordon is co-chair of WBC’s board, and the two legislative committees are working together this interim to reform WBC.

“The actual discrepancy between the WOLFS entry ($316.32) and the underlying documentation ($317.18) in the subject transaction was a miniscule $0.86,” says WBC’s letter, which 

 Board Co-Chairman Derek Smith signed. “Even so, we have directed staff to redouble efforts to match WOLFS entries and limit any potential for the WBC to approach the ‘estimated potential population misstatement'.”

Another audit test showed that nine out of the 222 transactions – or 4% - lacked the necessary invoice to substantiate them.

[{"type":"text","text":"That error totals $520.61, says the audit report."}]

WBC’s letter says the documentation is available except where 

 expenditure policy doesn’t require them.

Two of the nine unsupported transactions were for $15, and WBC policy doesn’t require receipts for individual reimbursements of $15 or less, says Smith’s letter.

Those expenses bought car washes. Together they cost $30, the letter says.

Another two of the transactions were accidental personal charges on a WBC card. Those totaled $70.87, and the employees reimbursed those, the letter says.

One of the nine transactions was a partial expenditure ($170.25) relating to a subscription, where the subscription period crossed multiple fiscal years, says the letter.

Four of the nine transactions (totaling $249.49) have documentation but “could have used additional context and explanation of the specified business purpose,” Smith’s letter concedes.

“Going forward,” it says, “WBC will review purchasing policy best practices with staff.”

Eleven of the 222 total transactions – or 5% - were travel expenses without an out-of-state travel request, the report indicates.

WBC management is reviewing the travel policy and crafting a solution, the letter says.

Just less than 2% of a specific, 120-transaction sample contained mathematical inaccuracies, the report says.

One expense report was $76.65 short of the calculated reimbursement total, and another invoice showed an unexplained $11.70 discrepancy, the audit report says.

The WBC says it will keep monitoring the grant reimbursement process and “explore technological solutions” to monitor documentation compliance.

A Market Expansion Grant showed a $333.74 reimbursement for a cooler that lacked a vendor invoice in the paper trail, says the report.

This was a lapse in available terminology in different systems, says Smith’s letter.

The WOLFS description included the word “cooler” but the invoice from the supplier, Wyldgear, didn’t contain that word.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not Too Shabby, Says Council"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A Wednesday WBC statement quotes Smith."}]

“We hold the Business Council to high standards of fiscal responsibility and accountability, and we welcome independent oversight. This audit affirms that the agency is operating responsibly while identifying a limited number of opportunities to further strengthen our documentation practices," he said.

"We recognize that some may try to use this audit to advance a political narrative or cast the Business Council in a negative light,” Smith continued. “The findings simply don't support that.”

He noted that the Department of Audit didn’t find improper spending or violations of law, “only a small number of minor documentation-related findings.”

“As a board,” Smith concluded. “We'll continue to ensure the agency implements the recommendations and maintains the high level of accountability Wyoming taxpayers expect."

Dorrell and Pendergraft 7 2 26

<title>Wyoming Business Council's Toughest Critic Relieved It Isn't Hiding Bank Accounts | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wyoming Business Council's biggest critic in the Legislature, Rep. Ken Pendergraft, was mostly relieved at a Wednesday audit report showing the Wyoming Business Council isn't hiding any bank accounts. But he says he still has questions.

Wyoming Business Council's Toughest Critic Relieved It Isn't Hiding Bank Accounts

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

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

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

For nearly a year, the man known only by his scattered bones on a remote Wyoming mountainside remained a mystery.

Investigators found pieces of his skeleton spread across rugged country near the Sweetwater Gap Guard Station, along with a tent and personal belongings. 

An identification card hinted at who he might be, but proving it would require an investigation stretching from Sublette County to Scotland, involving Interpol, foreign police agencies and DNA collected half a world away.

On Thursday, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office announced the mystery has finally been solved.

The remains belong to John Gillies, a Scottish man who would have been 69 years old this year.

"This case is a testament to the dedication of everyone involved and the strength of partnerships that extend well beyond our county and even our nation's borders," Sheriff K.C. Lehr said in a statement.

"What began as the discovery of unidentified remains in a remote area of Wyoming ultimately brought together local, state, federal and international partners with one shared goal — to give a family answers,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Very Remote'"}]

The investigation began Sept. 6, 2025, when Wyoming Game and Fish personnel 

discovered scattered human skeletal remains

 in a remote section of the Wind River Mountains near the Sweetwater Gap Guard Station.

Authorities later described the location as "very remote," in an area that sees little traffic outside of occasional search-and-rescue missions.

Deputies found disarticulated skeletal remains, a tent, and personal belongings. At the time, authorities said foul play did not appear to be a factor.

Four days later, a 14-member search team made up of deputies, detectives, Sublette County Search and Rescue volunteers and U.S. Forest Service personnel combed roughly 20 miles of rugged terrain, recovering additional skeletal remains.

By late December, a forensic anthropologist estimated investigators had recovered about 85% of the skeleton and concluded the remains had likely been in the wilderness for about six years.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'More Than Bones'"}]

Among the items recovered at the scene were personal effects that eventually led investigators to believe the man could be Gillies.

With no immediate next of kin in the United States, detectives contacted Gillies' ex-wife on Sept. 16, 2025.

Although she had not yet received confirmation that the remains belonged to her former husband, she provided photographs, medical history and details about his life.

[{"type":"text","text":"One message stayed with investigators throughout the case."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I wanted you to know he was more than bones\" she had said. "}]

The sheriff's office called her compassion and willingness to help "a powerful reminder that every unidentified person is someone's loved one."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Investigation Crosses An Ocean"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The investigation soon expanded across the Atlantic."}]

Detectives contacted Saint Mary's Church in Kirkintilloch, Scotland, which helped locate Gillies' surviving relatives and assisted with an international death notification.

Through Interpol, Police Scotland and the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement International Bureau, investigators obtained DNA reference samples from Gillies’ family, the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office reports.

Those samples arrived in Wyoming on Feb. 10. The following day, investigators personally transported the family DNA and the recovered skeletal remains to the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory in Cheyenne for comparison.

On Tuesday, the lab confirmed the remains were biologically related to Gillies' surviving family members, bringing the nearly yearlong investigation to a close, along with six years of limbo overall for the family.

[{"type":"text","text":"Investigators immediately notified his family in Scotland."}]

At their request, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office and the Sublette County Coroner's Office are now working with Interpol to return Gillies' remains home for burial.

The sheriff's office did not say how Gillies came to be in the isolated Wyoming wilderness or whether he had been reported missing before his remains were discovered.

[{"type":"text","text":"Authorities also did not announce a cause or manner of death."}]

Instead, investigators focused Wednesday on the collaboration that ultimately restored a name to a man who had spent years missing and unidentified.

"We are grateful to everyone who played a role in helping bring John home," Lehr said.

The sheriff's office specifically thanked the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Sublette County Search and Rescue, the U.S. Forest Service, the Wyoming State Crime Laboratory, Interpol, Police Scotland, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement International Bureau, Saint Mary's Church in Kirkintilloch and, most importantly, Gillies' family "for their patience, trust and assistance throughout this investigation.”

Missing man found inset

<title>Scattered Bones Found In Remote Wyoming Wilderness ID'd As Missing Scottish Man | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Scattered human bones found in Wyoming's rugged Wind River Mountains nearly a year ago have been identified as a Scottish man. "I wanted you to know he was more than bones,” his ex-wife said when contacted by investigators.

Hark The Herald: Sunday, December 29, 2024

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