Law enforcement in northern Wyoming has been hunting a fugitive in the frigid brush of the 562-person town of Byron for weeks, the Big Horn County Sheriff says.
Anthony Preston Pease is wanted on six counts of felony sexual assault involving a minor, out of Big Horn County, says a U.S. Marshals wanted poster the federal agency circulated.
Pease is a resident of Byron but has ties to Powell and Cheyenne, the poster says, adding that a reward of up to $1,000 “is being offered for information leading to his arrest.”
Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that northern Wyoming authorities have been on the manhunt for about 30 days.
Blackburn cast vague descriptors of the hunt terrain.
“There’s a river bottom (in Byron) that’s got a lot of scrub brush,” began Blackburn. “I want to be a little careful (describing it). He knows we’re looking for him.”
Blackburn said investigators believe locals are helping Pease; and that he’s been “pilfering things here and there.”
The man faces up to 51 years in prison, said Blackburn.
People caught helping him could face prison time too, he added.
Blackburn said state law prevents him from describing the allegations at this stage.
“We have found several locations where the subject has been and we’re working on closing — closing in on that, for lack of a better word,” said the sheriff.
Meanwhile, part of the sheriff’s struggle is getting the small-town residents to lock their homes and vehicles for a change, he added.
Blackburn said Pease also has traveled to other northern Wyoming towns: Powell and Lovell.
Meanwhile, A Letter
Pease was charged in September 2019 with strangulation of a household member and other violent crimes – and was initially sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution to his victim, says his case file.
The Wyoming Department of Corrections inmate locator lists him as being on parole, supervised by the Cheyenne office.
The DOC’s spokeswoman did not respond by publication to a request for additional information.
U.S. Marshal Chief Deputy Justin Stephenson confirmed Thursday to Cowboy State Daily that Pease faces a parole warrant out of Cheyene.
The mother of the victim in the 2019 case wrote to the case judge on Nov. 10, urging him to put Pease away for a longer sentence this time.
The victim was a woman whom Pease strangulated and attacked when they went out to dinner Sept. 18, 2019, court documents say.
“At (his sentencing) hearing our daughter addressed the court with the violent circumstances of this event,” wrote the victim’s mother in her letter to District Court Judge Bill Simpson. “Anthony Pease beat her senseless, choking her with her seatbelt, pulling out her hair, slamming her against the dashboard/console and driving her out to Red Lake to ‘get rid of her.’”
The mother continued: “Only by the grace of God was she able to escape this situation by the arrival of another car driving out to a nearby ranch.”
The woman still suffers from her back injuries and from post-traumatic stress disorder, the mother wrote.
Though the victim now lives in another state, she “called her father and me in a complete panic” when she learned that Pease was on the loose, as her PTSD was triggered, her mother wrote.
Fugitive Task Force
The U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force is helping with the search, Stephenson confirmed.
“Obviously fugitives don’t necessarily follow jurisdictional lines,” and Pease’s home region is near Montana; underpinning the use of the task force, he added.
“Obviously any tips or leads the public has or is able to give to us, or the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, we’d certainly appreciate it,” said Stephenson. “We can’t obviously be everywhere all the time; the public may see him… We’re hoping to get him arrested so he can answer to the charges.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
