Big Horn County’s top prosecutor asked Thursday for a trial date in the case of a man accused of force-feeding a 15-year-old girl Adderall before sexually assaulting her and evading law enforcement for two months.
Big Horn County Attorney Marcia Bean’s Thursday filing in the Big Horn County District Court also says she expects a criminal trial for Anthony Pease, 39, would take 10 days.
Pease faces two felony theft charges — each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines; plus four counts of first degree sexual assault (between five and 50 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines), one count of third-degree sexual assault (up to 15 years and $10,000) and one count of sexual exploitation of a child (5-12 years and up to $10,000).
The evidentiary affidavit by Big Horn County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeffrey Angell opens with a 911 call by a 44-year-old woman.
The woman called dispatch at about 10:45 p.m. Nov. 1, to say that Pease had sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in the town of Byron, the affidavit says.
On scene Angell met with the woman, who said she and her son converged on the crime scene, a garage, because the girl had texted her 16-year-old son pleas for help while the sexual attack was still ongoing and Pease stepped outside to relieve himself, says the document.
The mother showed Angell the text messages that had prompted her and her son to confront Pease at the garage, which was on a property where he was known to live.
The girl had rushed out of the garage naked when the mother and son arrived to help her, says the affidavit.
Angell and other law enforcement officers searched for Pease in the garage, the home, and the neighboring properties and outbuildings, but he was gone, the affidavit says.
Pease remained on the loose for the next two months and eight days.
The U.S. Marshals office and Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn dispatched alerts and public statements about him in mid-December. Blackburn said searchers were fighting the thick brush of a river bottom in Byron.
Wyoming Acting Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Justin Stephenson reflected after Pease’s capture that Wyoming task force personnel, plus officers from Montana and Colorado, “endured long days through treacherous mountainous terrain, frigid weather, and crippling winds of over 90 mph in the search for Mr. Pease.”
But First, The Interview
Lovell Police Officer Shantel Coleman helped Angell with the search Nov. 1. Big Horn County Sheriff’s Deputy Seth Hoblit searched Byron for Pease that day as well.
Deputy Kerri Angell asked the girl what had happened.
The girl said that Pease had asked her guardians to let him take her and her brother hiking that day. He’d told the guardians that he’d changed after his long prison stint, the document says.
The three hiked near Castle Rock. Pease drank one bottle of “Buzz Balls” liquor and had the girl drink the other, reportedly.
He also broke his Adderall pills in half, consumed one half and made the girl take the other half throughout the day, the document says.
Adderall contains amphetamines.
The boy later told law enforcement that Pease kept pulling his sister aside during the day saying he wanted to talk to her about one of her family members, so he would look for crystals and rocks.
After the hike Pease took the children to a grocery store, then to the Maverik convenience store in Lovell, where he bought food and a bottle of fireball whiskey, the girl recalled.
The boy later confirmed the information about the trip to Maverik, reportedly.
The affidavit says Pease took both juveniles to the home where he was staying. The boy went to bed, but Pease told the girl to come out to the garage so they could talk about her family member, Jeff Angell wrote in the affidavit.
The affidavit describes Pease telling the girl to take off her shoes and socks, forcing her to watch pornographic videos on his phone, and telling her of his long mission to get her alone to have sex with her.
He took off her clothes, removed her tampon and started performing sex acts on her, the document alleges, adding that the girl told him no and urged him to stop, saying she didn’t want that.
“She was screaming for him to stop,” and after the second screaming outburst Pease raised his fists and told her to shut up or he’d beat her and hurt her really bad, Angell related from the girl’s interview.
The girl recalled watching Pease beat up her family member and throw that person down flights of stairs, the document says. She was scared to fight him or try to leave, it adds.
The document describes Pease forcing the girl to perform a sex act on him.
He said he was going outside to urinate. The girl said she had to urinate also, but he told her she would have to stay in the garage and use a bucket as her bathroom, says the affidavit.
Once Pease was outside, the girl texted her 16-year-old friend and said the man had “got me drunk and raped me.” Her friend asked if he should come and get her, reportedly.
The girl warned that Pease was abusive and would “beat his ass.”
But then she urged her friend to come get her.
The boy asked if she could escape and go to an area bar, reportedly.
“I can’t we are in the garage Help,” she answered, according to the document. She added, “Help please hurry,” and “I can’t text anymore but please help,” says the affidavit.
Pease returned and forced the girl into a sexual position, the document alleges.
A pounding sounded on the door.
Pease screamed at the girl, asked who was at the door and ordered her to get her clothes on, the document says.
But the girl, assuming her friend had come to save her, got up and ran out of the garage naked, says the affidavit.
Authorities took her to the Powell Valley hospital for a rape examination.
Rescue Mom
According to the mother who had joined her son in the rescue effort, the son showed the mother those desperate text messages, and they decided to go help the girl.
Mother and son drove to the garage. While they were at the door, the mother corroborated in her police interview, the girl ran out and said Pease had pulled out her tampon before sexually assaulting her.
The mother went into the garage and found Pease, naked, hiding behind a green toolbox, she told deputies. She left the garage and called police, believing Pease was still in the garage. But he had fled.
Sgt. Angell reported that he later saw a bloody tampon on the floor and other evidence, like two Adderall pill bottles — one empty — near the couch.
The Truck
On Jan. 6, a 47-year-old man contacted the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office about a 2000 white Ford Ranger . The man said one of his farm hands who’d been out of the country in December, had used the pickup normally, but discovered that it was gone that morning upon his return, according to an affidavit from Big Horn County Sheriff’s Sgt. Craig Shidler.
That truck was worth about $3,000, Shidler determined, which puts it over the $1,000 threshold for felony theft in Wyoming.
It’s also a felony to steal a gun or livestock in Wyoming, regardless of the item’s value.
Shidler reviewed calls for service from mid-December and found that on Dec. 14, someone in Byron had reported his or her license plate stolen, from a 2001 Ford pickup, white in color.
Northern Colorado
By Jan. 8, Sgt. Angell reported he’d learned that Pease had contacted a man in northern Colorado and had indicated he was going to be in that area later that night, wrote Shidler.
But the man in northern Colorado contacted authorities and reported his discussion with Pease, Angell added.
“I spoke with members of Wyoming (Division of Criminal Investigation) as well as U.S. Marshals who had been helping to find Pease,” wrote Shidler, adding that he gave them the vehicle description and both its license plate number plus the figure on the stolen license plate.
DCI and Marshals agents “verified” that a matching vehicle and stolen license plate “had been found on license plate readers on I-25 in Wyoming and in Colorado.”
It’s an incident to which Cheyenne Police Chief Mark Francisco pointed in February as a benefit of the highly controversial Flock cameras.
On Jan. 9 Shidler learned that U.S. Marshal’s task force members, Fort Collins police and Larimer County Sheriff’s deputies of Colorado had found Pease in Fort Collins, Colorado.
He’d been seen in a white Ford Ranger with the stolen license plate affixed to its rear bumper. Law enforcement personnel apprehended him that day, the documents say.
Authorities recovered the pickup and brought it back to northern Wyoming.
Park County Public Defender Tim Blatt, who is representing Pease, did not immediately return a midday voicemail request for comment Monday.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
