A 25-year-old Gillette man who is already in prison for assaulting jail officers is now accused of attacking prison guards when they wouldn’t let him keep gingerbread-making supplies in his cell.
Tyler Gray was arrested on a domestic battery charge in 2019, then charged multiple times that year on evidence that he punched, head-butted and bit Campbell County Detention Center officers.
He’s serving a five-to-10-year prison term in the Wyoming State Penitentiary in Rawlins.
The Carbon County Attorney’s Office charged him with felony police interference Monday, on evidence that he kicked and thrashed at prison guards.
If convicted, he could receive an additional prison term of up to 20 years — 10 years on each of the two counts of felony interference he now faces.
The incident dates back to Nov. 26, 2024, when the prison staffers allowed equipment or goods used for a gingerbread-making contest in inmates’ pods, but not in their cells, says an evidentiary affidavit by Carbon County Sheriff’s Deputy David Greninger.
Corrections officers were shaking down cells for contraband and forbidden items that day.
One of the officers “found extra items for a gingerbread-making competition” in a cell and called Gray over to answer for the discovery.
Gray raised his right hand as if to hit the officer, says the affidavit, and other officers intervened to get Gray to the ground.
The document says that as officers tried to restrain Gray, he kicked, punched and screamed.
The officer who raised the objection against the gingerbread-making items soon found his lip was numb and swollen, the affidavit adds.
Another officer told the deputy, when interviewed, that Gray had squealed, raised his fist and kicked during the officers’ efforts to restrain him.
The sergeant who had helped to intervene said she had scrapes on her arms, but she wasn’t in pain, the affidavit relates from her interview.
The Best Yet
Next, Greninger went to interview Gray, who was no longer in a restraint chair but now wore a “suicide gown,” or restraining safety smock.
Greninger told the man his Miranda rights, and Gray agreed to give an interview, the affidavit says.
If the prison staffers were going to accuse him of doing something then he was going to do that thing, he said, according to the document.
Gray conceded that he kicked and punched while on the ground. He said he “connected” several times but didn’t know if he hurt anyone with those contacts, Greninger wrote.
Gray noted he suffered from disabilities such as bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder and autism — a statement that 2019 court documents also mention.
His medication works but he was having a bad day, he said, according to the document.
Greninger told Gray that because of this and his “history of assaulting staff” he was going to suggest criminal charges.
Since this was the “best he had got officers yet,” Gray was “surprised he hadn’t been charged on previous cases,” Greninger related from the interview.
“Defendant also admitted that this was not going to stop him from assaulting staff in the future,” the deputy added.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
