A pair of bills designed to protect minors from being stalked or groomed will close a much-needed loophole in Wyoming’s laws, experts say.
Both bills easily passed their final hurdle Friday and are heading to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk to be signed into law.
House Bill 8, known as “Stalking of Minors,” will make stalking a minor by an adult 18 or older a felony punishable by up to 10 years.
The impetus for the proposed legislation arose from a high-profile stalking case where 41-year-old Marcie Smith of Glenrock stalked and harassed a 16-year-old teen and her teen boyfriend for nearly a year resulting in Smith being sentenced to two years of probation.
The mothers of the teens, Brandi Sorenson and Cathy Holman, were outspoken advocates for the legislation.
The companion bill, HB 9, or “Grooming of Children Offenses and Amendments,” defines the specific behaviors that constitute grooming, leading up to a sexual offense with felony penalties of up to 10 and 15 years for grooming children under 16 and children under 12, respectively.
This includes manipulating teens by establishing an emotional connection or abusing their trust to coerce and exploit them into engaging in sexual conduct or acts, both through electronic communication or in-person activities.
These punishments were cut drastically from the bill’s original language, which initially imposed much harsher punishments of 25 years to life in prison — more severe than some cases of statutory rape and second-degree murder.
The initial version of the bill barely passed first reading in the Wyoming House of Representatives after all six Democrats voted against it, prompting Elon Musk, owner of the X platform with more than 234 million followers, to chime in.
Musk failed to comment on the 13 Republicans who also voted against it, citing the same concerns as the Democrats.
As amended, HB 9 and HB 8 passed unanimously through both chambers and had broad consensus from law enforcement, including Laramie County District Attorney, Sylvia Hackl who spoke on behalf of the Wyoming County and Prosecuting Attorneys Association.
Closing Loophole
These bills are needed to more directly address the crimes impacting teens in Wyoming, said Cara Chambers, director of the state Division of Victims Services.
Chambers specifically noted the Glenrock teens stalked by Smith were 15 and 16 when the abuse started. The new legislation would make all stalking of minors by adults a felony.
Likewise, the grooming bill would close a loophole in Wyoming’s current laws.
“We previously lacked express language regarding the clear pattern of behavior that precipitates the actual sexual contact or abuse,” Chambers said. “Too often, law enforcement couldn't charge until an actual sexual assault occurred.”
The proposed law also mandates that adults convicted under the new law would be required to register as sex offenders.
Allen Thompson, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, said his association is in favor of the proposed law.
“I think it gives us another great tool that we can use to help protect the most vulnerable population,” he said.
In particular, Thompson noted, the law would allow law enforcement the opportunity to intervene during the grooming process before a sexual assault has taken place.
Additionally, along with outlining the specific behaviors that constitute in-person grooming and sexual conduct, the bill also specifically targets grooming that occurs online through electronic devices.
This gives law enforcement an additional means of collecting digital evidence to use in proving a crime has taken place, even if a physical sexual assault doesn’t occur. It also allows victims to come forward after the abuse has taken place if they have digital evidence.
“In cases where physical evidence just doesn’t exist, digital evidence might be alive for years thereafter,” he said.
Terri Markham, executive director of the Sheridan-based nonprofit Uprising, was also in support of the bills. Markham works frequently with teens and parents as part of the non-profit’s anti-human trafficking education and awareness programs throughout the state.
Though there are some laws on the books currently that address some aspects of grooming such as the sending of illicit images of teens, until now there wasn’t a statute that defined grooming behavior as a crime.
“This is especially important for all those parents and youth that I train about the red flags of grooming,” Markham said in an email to Cowboy State Daily Monday. “I can't tell you how many times a youth or parent recognizes the red flags of grooming, then reports it to law enforcement, only to be told there is nothing they can do because it hasn't escalated to a crime ‘yet.'"
Markham noted the damaging impact that the grooming process alone can have on children and teens and the severe long-term ramifications it can have on both the child and their families.
“With this bill, now we will be able to charge people who are grooming kids, based on the behaviors and the inappropriate texts, etc. that happen — even if no exploitation ends up occurring,” she said.
Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.
