Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak has a message for criminals who think they’re smarter than the entire court system, from law officers to judges to jail guards: “Meth around and find out.”
That’s what Vance Aulis, 60, of Cheyenne did last week, and what he found out was that while in jail, he shouldn’t try to make arrangements to have someone retrieve the giant stash of meth from his car, Kozak said.
“I want to talk about this guy right here,” the sheriff says on a video posted to the LCSO Facebook page Monday.
Holding up the man’s mug shot, Kozak tells how Aulis thought he was going to breeze in and out of court for a probation violation — also on meth-related charges.
“He went into court fully expecting to walk out of court with an extension of his probation,” Kozak said. “However, the judge ordered him into custody and gave him a three-year sentence.”
Obviously not expecting that, Aulis was taken straight to the Laramie County jail, “where he is right now in the old ‘Klinko,’” Kozak said.
Oops
That’s where Aulis’ bad day turned worse. He decided to make a phone call, not remembering that there are no private calls in jail that aren’t between an inmate and his lawyer.
“As you know, all those phone calls are recorded, and the inmates know they’re recorded,” the sheriff said.
A deputy overheard Aulis, and he “was worried because he drove to court on his probation hearing for meth with meth in his car,” Kozak said. “And he was asking for someone to go get the meth out of the car. He was very concerned about it.”
Someone did go after that meth — the sheriff’s office.
Kozak explained how his deputy called the Cheyenne Police Department, which brought over a K-9 to do a sniff of the car.
From the dog’s positive hit for drugs, the deputy “got probable cause, got a search warrant, impounded the car and lo and behold — quite a bit of meth in the car,” he said.
In all, about 6 ounces of meth was found, which the sheriff called a large amount, along with other supplies that indicate Aulis likely intended to portion into smaller amounts and sell.
To add more irony to the bust, Aulis had parked his car on 20th street behind the jail, right in front of the back door that has a large, flashing neon “VACANCY” sign over it.
Tuck And Run
Taking meth with you to court is certainly a bonehead move, Kozak said, adding there are a lot of those examples in jail.
He said people try to smuggle drugs into jail, but are usually caught. There are strip searches, body cavity searches and even a body scanner “like you see at the airport.”
“Our biggest fight is keeping drugs out of the jail,” he said. “People ‘tucking,’ which means putting drugs up your rear end or vagina.
“It’s an ongoing fight to keep drugs out of our jail, for sure.”
It’s the same at jails around Wyoming. Last August, a suspect avoided a felony charge in Gillette when he decided to admit he had cocaine and fentanyl stashed in his buttocks before jail personnel could find it.
The man was stopped for speeding and a drug dog indicated on his truck, the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office reported at the time.
Perhaps more common than people trying to smuggle drugs or weapons into jail are those who try and claim the contraband isn’t theirs, Campbell County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Paul Pownell said.
“I’ve heard quite often that those aren’t their pants,” he said.
In this most recent incident in Laramie County, Kozak said he’s glad the judge saw through the suspect’s attempts to skirt the law and have him taken to jail.
He also said that had Aulis not panicked and tried to get rid of the meth in his car, they never would’ve thought to look for it.
“It was that phone call that did him in,” Kozak said.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
