CASPER — A 66-year-old Cody man who took a federal plea deal for violating a protection order by possessing 28 weapons including a machine gun, two pipe bombs and silencer weapons faces 8 1/2 years in a federal prison following a sentencing hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Casper.
Randall Thomas Bailey appeared with his attorney Samuel Krone in a striped prison suit and shackles before Judge Scott Skavdahl. In October 2025, he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a firearm by a person subject to a court order and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Hammer told the judge that he needed to consider the big picture in sentencing Bailey that involved him violating a protection order and breaking into his ex-wife’s car.
She recounted how a state court judge had told Bailey that the protection order obtained by his ex-wife, Sara Bailey, meant he could not possess firearms.
“He ignored the court and chose to do whatever he wanted,” Hammer said.
Hammer told the judge that when Bailey’s home was searched, they found he possessed not only sporting weapons but illegal weapons that included a machine gun, a silencer and two pipe bombs.
The pipe bombs were “determined to be functional,” she said.
Hammer asked the judge not to give any “downward variance” in the sentencing guidelines despite the letters of support the court received on Bailey’s behalf and his lack of criminal history prior to the divorce with his wife and a stalking charge.
Krone argued that the sentence for his client needed to be sufficient but not “greater than needed.” He said though Bailey did possess firearms, he had no criminal history prior to “these events” and there was no evidence of him ever “brandishing” the weapons.
He said Bailey has a long history in the Cody community and of being a provider for his family. Krone asked for a sentence at the lower end of the sentencing guidelines or even “below that.”
“We do think supervised release would be appropriate in this matter,” he said.
Bonanza And Church
When given his time to speak, Bailey started with his youth in South Carolina growing up watching “Lawrence Welk, and Walt Disney, and Bonanza.”
He told the judge that church was important to his family and his mother always shined his shoes on Saturday nights.
Bailey told the court that he began his “music career” in the church, obtained his Eagle Scout award at 14, obtained a music scholarship to an Indiana university and then after graduation taught himself “engineering” obtaining a job with AT&T.
He said he was in New York after 9/11 rebuilding important communications infrastructure, met his wife, later paid her way through college, and came to Wyoming in 2005. He told the judge that he has an honorary sheriff’s badge from Big Horn County.
“I am a victim,” Bailey told the court. “I have not harassed my ex-wife in any way. … In no way has she ever been threatened.”
Bailey said the weapons he had were part of his collection for sporting purposes and his intentions were to give them to his three children.
“They are not in any way terroristic or threatening,” he said.
Guns Over Law
Skavdahl told Bailey it was apparent that he “loved his guns more than he loved the law.”
The judge said even before Bailey had the protection order filed against him, it was still illegal for him to possess the machine gun, silencer, and pipe bombs.
“These are not allowed,” he said.
Skavdahl said he considered Bailey’s lack of criminal history prior to his divorce and agreed with Hammer that Bailey knew what the law was about his possession of the weapons.
While characterizing Bailey as an “extremely intelligent” man, the judge noted that he had a “vindictiveness and anger” that resulted in his making “poor choices in this case.”
The judge said he believed 51 months for each count would be sufficient for the charges but “not greater than necessary.”
He ordered both counts to be served concurrently and also ordered that the federal case be served concurrently with his sentencing on state charges in a case currently pending in Park County.
In that 2024 case, Bailey faces felony burglary and stalking charges as well as misdemeanor charges for violating a protection order and interfering with police.
Court records show that a trial is set on those charges for March 16 in Park County District Court.
In addition to his prison time, Skavdahl ordered Bailey to serve three years of supervised release on each count concurrently. He ordered a mental health assessment while Bailey is behind bars and as well as cognitive behavioral therapy.
After release from prison, Bailey is not allowed any contact with his ex-wife. The judge also ordered Bailey to pay a $1,000 fine.
As part of the plea deal, two more serious firearm possession charges against Bailey were formally dropped.
Background
The federal and state charges that put Bailey before both courts are the result of the Cody Police Department investigation Nov. 10, 2024, into an alleged violation of the protection order against him that had been granted his ex-wife. Court records allege he entered her parked car outside her home and stole his ex-wife’s work identification badge from her car.
Cody police searched Bailey’s vehicle and found inside the rear compartment a white T-shirt concealing a fully loaded Ruger .357 revolver with six live hollow point bullets in the cylinder, according to the ATF.
Police said when they arrested Bailey, they found a stun gun in his jacket.
When police searched Bailey’s home on Musser Road, they found the 28 firearms, including a Cobray brand pistol with a homemade suppressor attached to the barrel, and two suspected pipe bombs in the garage.
After the suspected pipe bombs were found, officers immediately cleared out of the garage and summoned the bomb team and K-9 unit to help collect the improvised explosive devices.
Bailey had no National Firearms Act items registered to him and is not permitted to possess any of the NFA items recovered from his home, according to the ATF. The NFA regulates machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and destructive devices such as bombs and grenades.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
