A Shoshoni, Wyoming, woman who recently admitted to impersonating an FBI agent was charged with new crimes Monday on claims she pointed a shotgun at her sister and sister’s boyfriend.
Shantel Marie Wheeler now faces two counts of aggravated assault, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Fremont County Deputy attorney Jonah Buckley charged her Monday in Riverton Circuit Court.
Wheeler also has an ongoing misdemeanor case on a charge of impersonating a law enforcement officer, which was filed in January.
In a written plea filed last month, Wheeler admitted to impersonating an FBI agent while at the Central Wyoming Regional Airport in January.
“I told officers and security that I had to transport evidence to the FBI, while I was taking it of my own accord to deliver evidence for my own case,” she wrote in a Feb. 20 change-of-plea filing. Her change of plea hearing is set for May 5 in that case.
Meanwhile …
Meanwhile, the aggravated assault affidavit claims that Wheeler got into an argument with her sister at about 9 p.m. Friday, over a puppy that kept urinating and defecating on the carpet at a family home in Shoshoni.
Wheeler’s sister called law enforcement that night to say that Shantel Wheeler was intoxicated and aiming a loaded shotgun at her and her boyfriend, says an evidentiary affidavit by Fremont County Sheriff’s Detective Anthony Armstrong. The sister and boyfriend fled the home and waited for deputies outside, the document adds.
Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Meeker responded to the home that night. Wheeler’s sister, and sister’s boyfriend encountered the deputy outside. The boyfriend showed Meeker a photograph with a timestamp of 8:55 p.m. March 21, showing a shotgun aiming in the boyfriend’s direction, and another that appeared to show Wheeler talking to someone and bearing the shotgun in the low ready position, says the affidavit.
The boyfriend and the sister both said they saw Wheeler load the shotgun and rack a round into the chamber, then aim the weapon at both of them, Armstrong wrote.
Deputy Scott Gardner also arrived on scene. The deputies learned over the dispatch radio that another family member, a 59-year-old woman, was still in the home and refused to leave it when the couple did, the document says.
The affidavit says deputies used the loudspeaker to call the woman out, and she came out and reported that Wheeler was in the home showering, and the shotgun was in the bedroom.
Into The Home
Gardner and Meeker went into the home and found Wheeler exiting the shower with no shotgun in hand. They allowed her to dress, then detained her, the affidavit says.
The document says Gardner found the shotgun leaned against the door frame just outside the bathroom where Wheeler had been showering.
Meeker checked the gun and found no shells inside it, and the safety turned off. He took Wheeler to his patrol vehicle and read her Miranda rights to her, then secured the shotgun, says the affidavit.
About That Pistol
The 59-year-old woman told deputies that the sisters were arguing about the puppy, then the sister’s boyfriend came to the home because Wheeler’s sister was feeling threatened, Armstrong wrote, adding that Wheeler grabbed the shotgun and threatened to shoot the boyfriend. The boyfriend, in turn, grabbed his handgun and said he’d shoot Wheeler, according to the older woman’s interview.
Meeker next interviewed the boyfriend, asking the man when his handgun came into play.
The boyfriend said he grabbed his handgun after, and because, Wheeler threatened him with a shotgun. He conceded that he threatened to shoot her at that time, says the affidavit.
Meeker also interviewed Wheeler, who said her sister’s puppy kept going to the bathroom on the floor, and she wanted it to stop.
As for the gun, she was brandishing it to prove her Second Amendment rights, Wheeler said, according to the affidavit.
Meeker countered, saying he had a photo of Wheeler aiming the shotgun at her sister’s boyfriend. Wheeler “didn’t comment about that,” the document adds.
Wheeler was booked into the Fremont County Detention Center then held on a $10,000 cash bond. Her preliminary hearing is set for April 3.
Wheeler’s attorney Nicholas Hopkins did not immediately respond to a Wednesday voicemail request for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
