A now 71-year-old man who blew up the Fremont County undersheriff’s patrol car with dynamite 52 years ago was arrested again this week, on claims investigators caught him with four pounds of meth.
Alfred “Buzz” Lee Apodaca appeared Friday via virtual link in Riverton Circuit Court from a viewing room in the Fremont County Detention Center. He wore an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs, and black spectacles, and had ruffled black hair and a mustache.
Riverton Circuit Court Judge Dan Stebner set a $10,000 cash-only bond on the case, where Apodaca is charged with one count of possessing meth with intent to deliver and another count of possessing a felony amount of meth.
The first is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines, while the second carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and $15,000 in fines.
Apodaca told Stebner he hasn’t been right since he contracted COVID-19 in 2021, nor since he “caught a dirty methamphetamine.”
He still suffers from “brain fog” due to long COVID, said Apodaca.
Apodaca was caught with four pounds of methamphetamine in two bags, in the bed of a Ford F-150 this week, according to an evidentiary affidavit written by Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Ryan Wangberg.
Wangberg had gotten a search warrant Wednesday, from Lander Circuit Court Judge Jefferson Coombs, the affidavit says.
Fremont County Deputy Attorney Jane Juve charged Apodaca on Thursday.
Boom
A jury in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming convicted Apodaca in 1974 of destroying a government-owned vehicle, possessing a destructive device not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, and for failing to pay taxes on the dynamite he used.
Those crimes stemmed from the Dec. 8, 1973, dynamite bombing of a Fremont County Sheriff’s Office patrol car in Riverton, federal court documents say.
The government’s key witness, Roberta Jean Hernandez, testified on April 8, 1974, that Apodaca and Ronnie Jasch picked her up the night of Dec. 7, 1973, to take a ride in Apodaca’s new car.
Jasch said he knew where there was some dynamite and suggested they “blow up a cop car.”
They drove to Apodaca’s father’s house, grabbed some dynamite and a fuse, then waited about a half-block from the Fremont County undersheriff’s house at 1:45a.m.
Hernandez stayed in the car while the men walked to the undersheriff’s house with the dynamite and returned a few minutes later.
Hernandez testified that she was frightened because, while his case was ongoing, Apodaca said he’d blame her if she testified against him and she “wouldn’t make it to court to testify.”
Just before trial was set to begin Aug. 7, 1974, Hernandez — a key government witness — informed the prosecutor that she didn’t want to testify because she’d married Apodaca three days prior.
She produced a marriage certificate. Apodaca asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, or in this case, to keep Hernandez off the witness stand due to spousal privilege under the Fifth Amendment.
The judge decided the marriage was a fraud on the court.
Marrying Hernandez was a violation of Apodaca’s bail, as he’d been ordered not to communicate with her during prosecution.
Hernandez was compelled to take the stand, and she tried to recant her prior testimony, court documents say.
1980s Drug Boss
Apodaca was convicted in state court for selling marijuana in 1980.
By 1982, investigators described Apodaca as a meth-dealing boss in Fremont County.
“From at least 1982 until February 1985, Apodaca was the central figure in organizing numerous individuals to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine — crank — in central Wyoming,” says an appeal document in that case.
One of Apodaca’s immediate subordinates testified that he started selling meth for Apodaca in 1982. Another man testified that he started selling “crank” for Apodaca early in 1983 in Casper.
Two more men said they cooked meth at Apodaca’s Riverton home in 1983 or early 1984, sold some of the meth, and gave the proceeds to Apodaca.
A second cooking session unfolded in June 1984 between Riverton and Shoshoni, and Apodaca distributed the supply to five different people whose territories stretched from Casper to Thermopolis to Riverton.
That case left him with three additional federal convictions.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
