At least eight Wyoming sheriffs have received reports of mysterious drone activity in recent weeks.
Three of those have documented mystery drone sightings over energy infrastructure, like power plants and oil and gas fields, the sheriffs told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
The outlet reached out to every sheriff in Wyoming on Tuesday and Wednesday, after President Donald Trump announced that similar mystery drones spotted over New Jersey late last year were not from enemy sources. Trump’s spokeswoman said Tuesday that the drones were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The president’s assurance with respect to New Jersey drones contains slightly more information than the federal government ventured last year. But it’s not enough to diminish multiple Wyoming sheriffs’ concerns over sightings in their own counties.
“We remain in close communication with our state and federal partners, but we still don’t have a conclusive explanation for these flights,” Jason Mower, spokesman for the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office has received 10 confirmed reports of unusual drone activity since early December. These display “similar” formations to those patterns reported across the nation, and most sightings happen after dark, Mower said. He described some grid-like formations, straight-line patterns, and some more spoke-like formations with multiple drones branching off from one large, central drone.
Sheriff’s Office employees have seen the drone flights with their own eyes, and some people have furnished videos, he added.
The initial reports were of drones over the Jim Bridger Power Plant. That’s concerning, said Mower.
Most of the other reports have been more random locations.
“My impression is, it’s a far wider-spread issue here in Wyoming and has been pretty much this entire time,” Mower said. “So the (president’s) statement today specific to the activity over New Jersey does very little to ease our minds or give us any clarification or answers as to what’s happening here in Wyoming.
Oil And Gas Fields
Sublette County Sheriff KC Lehr said his county has logged multiple sightings since Jan. 1, ranging from the county’s southernmost border to its northern end. These sightings range from patterns involving two or three devices, to 10-12 in formation.
“We’ve had two accounts of very large drones – and when I say very large they’re talking like the size of a Volkswagen vehicle – and several smaller drones flying in a grid pattern around that singular drone,” said Lehr. Others appear to be grid searching.
“We haven’t been able to determine the origin, or where these drones are going once they leave,” he added.
Law enforcement agents have confirmed the sightings, Lehr added. Many are over the “mesa” – a stretch of oil and gas infrastructure. Lehr’s office has reached out to every energy industry operating in the area, he said. His office has deployed search teams at night and obtained video footage, which it has been forwarding to the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security’s new tips site.
So far no one has come forward and admitted to operating the drones.
The president’s statement focused on New Jersey, but that leaves questions still burning in Wyoming, Lehr said.
How Could You Not?
Campbell County Sheriff Scott Matheny has had multiple drone sightings reported to his office. And in that county, it’s nearly impossible to avoid energy infrastructure.
“We have lots of structures here: the power plants and the coal mines,” said Matheny. “At some point they are (flying over those things) because you can’t not when you’re in Campbell County.”
Matheny’s undersheriff Quentin Reynolds has seen the drones in person as well, the sheriff added, after speaking to Reynolds in the background of the call.
But these drones don’t appear to be flying in coordinated patterns, thought two were spotted flying together, said Matheny.
The sightings are typically, but not always, after dark.
Matheny said he’s curious about the drones, but with numerous other things to manage, including an uptick in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, he’s not yet overwhelmed with worry over the drones.
‘If Anyone Knows What’s Going On …’
The sheriffs of Weston, Johnson, Natrona and Niobrara County all have had mysterious drone sighting reports in recent weeks, their respective sheriffs and spokespeople told Cowboy State Daily.
Johnson County Sheriff Rod Odenbach said people are reporting them to the west and southwest of Kaycee – on the slope of the Bighorn Mountains and not near any energy infrastructure. Those reports have included video documentation showing grid patterns, he said.
It’s not illegal to fly a drone generally, Odenbach noted.
“They’re doing something. I just don’t know what they’re doing,” he said, adding that he’s been in touch with the state’s Homeland Security office and is hoping to hear back from that agency or another agency in the near future. “Because right now, really, we don’t have much to go on.”
Niobrara County Sheriff Randy Starkey has been seeing drones or getting drone reports since October – well before the drone frenzy erupted in New Jersey.
They’re flying over the Lance Creek area, which is a large fossil bed, but no known energy infrastructure, he said.
Starkey met with a drone expert Wednesday but walked away with many questions still unanswered.
“If anybody knows why they’re flying around or what they’re looking for, they could contact the sheriff’s office,” said Starkey. “If somebody knows what’s going on, that would be awesome.”
In Weston County, Sheriff Brian Colvard has had a couple reports from a resident in the Buckhorn area, but deputies have not confirmed the sightings.
“I don’t disbelieve they’re seeing them, but I don’t know if it’s a hunter or somebody flying – or if it’s totally mysterious,” said Colvard. That sighting was not near any energy structures or mines. The town of Newcastle has a refinery “right in town,” said Colvard. “And we haven’t witnessed anything like that over our resource-driven stuff.”
The drones over Washakie County aren't over any infrastructure as far as Sheriff Austin Brookwell knows. His office has received reports of drone sightings southeast of Worland toward the Badlands, and closer to the Big Horn mountains - all nighttime sightings, he said.
Kiera Hett, spokeswoman for the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office, said via email that the office had one report of suspicious drone activity in mid-January, but the deputies have not substantiated the claim. She did not immediately respond to follow-up question regarding energy infrastructure.
The Tally
Of the state’s 23 sheriffs, 12 told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that they haven’t had any mystery drone reports in recent weeks.
Those were in Albany, Big Horn, Carbon, Converse, Crook, Fremont, Goshen, Laramie, Park, Platte Sheridan, and Uinta counties.
Though Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken hasn't had mysterious drone reports, he empathizes with those law enforcement agencies that do.
"Based on the sheer volume and reports from other sheriffs in the state, I have concerns as well," Bakken said.
The sheriffs of Hot Springs, Lincoln, and Teton counties did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
