CASPER - "A 30-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Natrona County District Court to charges that he pointed a loaded gun at his then-pregnant girlfriend and fired into an apartment wall.
The woman is now the mother of his child.
Tyler James Laplatney-Reed appeared before Judge Joshua Eames on bond with his attorney Steven Iberlin. He faces two counts of aggravated assault, one count of property destruction and defacement — all felonies — and a misdemeanor count of cocaine possession.
Iberlin waived a formal reading of the charges and LaPlatney-Reed told the judge he understood the potential penalties involved with the charges against him.
Eames asked him how he would plead.
“Not guilty,” LaPlatney-Reed said.
Iberlin asked the judge to modify the conditions of the $75,000 cash or surety bond to allow LaPlatney-Reed supervised contact with the alleged victim and his child.
Court records show that Circuit Court Judge Nicole Collier allowed him to be at the birth of the child if a third party was always present. A no-contact order with the victim otherwise remains in place.
The victim petitioned Collier to remove the no-contact order and she wrote the judge that she had a “safety plan” in place and that the no-contact order has “imposed substantial hardship on me and our family, including emotional distress, disruption of our household and difficulty managing day-to-day responsibilities during my pregnancy.”
Iberlin told the judge that his client was trying to better himself and has “done everything that I’ve asked him to do.”
“It’s important for a father to bond with his kids,” Iberlin said.
Safety Concerns
Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Amanda Kirby argued that the allegations against the defendant are serious and “regardless of the victim’s desire,” the case LaPlatney-Reed has is against the state and that safety concerns remain.
She said the state objected to any modification of LaPlatney-Reed’s bond.
Eames agreed with Kirby and kept current conditions in place. He reminded LaPlatney-Reed that the no-contact order did not just mean him contacting the alleged victim.
“If (the alleged victim) contacts you and if you do anything but ignore it, it’s on you,” Eames said.
Eames said a trial was set for July 13.
The Background
Charges against LaPlatney-Reed stem from Casper police being called to Banner Wyoming Medical Center at 12:36 a.m. on Feb. 28 as the eight-months pregnant woman was being treated for what she said was an assault at her home in the 1600 block of South Elk Street.
“(The woman) advised she had been physically assaulted by LaPlatney, (he) fired a pistol round in the home, then pointed the gun at her face and threatened to shoot her dog,” the police affidavit states. The woman eventually "was able to escape LaPlatney and seek medical treatment.”
The woman told police that that she and LaPlatney-Reed had been living at the home with another male roommate for two years, and at first she and LaPlatney-Reed were roommates before entering into a relationship.
She became pregnant about two months into their relationship.
The woman told police that LaPlatney-Reed wanted to end their relationship. On the evening of Feb. 27 she had picked up fast food and arrived at their apartment after work and sat down to eat when he insulted her with a slur.
He then got off a couch, tried to take away her soda and dumped it on her head, threw her food on the floor and told her to “get out,” the affidavit states.
The affidavit states the woman told LaPlatney-Reed that she was trying to move out as soon as she could.
“LaPlatney then took a black gun that was on the coffee table and ‘cocked it,’ firing a round into the front of the house above the front windows,” the woman told police. “LaPlatney then ‘cocked’ the gun again and pointed it at (the woman’s) face telling her he would ‘shoot her’ if she didn’t leave.”
The woman tried to call LaPlatney-Reed’s mother and asked her to come to the house.
Threat To Shoot Dog
Meanwhile, LaPlatney-Reed threatened to shoot the woman’s 12-year-old Labrador retriever mix and went into her room, took her dog off the bed, and tried to throw the dog down the hallway, the affidavit states.
The woman ran to her room where the dog was and slapped LaPlatney-Reed in an attempt to protect her dog, the affidavit states. She tried to push him out of her bedroom.
At that point, as she was trying to close the door, LaPlatney-Reed pushed the woman several times in the stomach and then pushed the door so hard in response that the woman fell across the bedroom and landed on a floor fan, striking the fan and causing her to vomit “dark bile,” the affidavit states.
LaPlatney-Reed’s mother arrived and helped the woman to her car while LaPlatney-Reed followed and began hitting the woman’s black Volkswagen with his fist, putting a dent in the hood and breaking a headlight.
The woman told police she got into her own car, drove to her sister’s house and her sister took her to the hospital. She said she was afraid LaPlatney-Reed would shoot her and her dog, and that he had never “threatened her with a weapon or hurt her dog before,” the affidavit says.
LaPlatney-Reed denied assaulting the woman, and when asked about the bullet in the wall and any firearms at the residence, he denied owning one, but said their roommate did.
LaPlatney-Reed has three previous convictions in Natrona County courts that make him ineligible to possess weapons.
A search of the residence by police found several firearms, including a Walther 9 mm and Glock 19 9 mm in the living room. The Walther was on a coffee table and the Glock on the floor.
A 9 mm Hornady pistol casing from a bullet round was on the dining room floor.
Cocaine Residue
Police found marijuana paraphernalia as well, and in LaPlatney-Reed’s room a plate, Tupperware lid, straw, and jewelers’ bag all with white residue that tested positive for cocaine, the affidavit says.
Videos from the woman’s cellphone showed LaPlatney-Reed and the woman arguing as she picked up food from the floor and her talking about his throwing soda on her. The video showed LaPlatney-Reed grabbing the woman’s legs and trying to pull her off the couch, the affidavit states.
The affidavit also tells about another video that shows LaPlatney-Reed yelling for the woman to leave, walking down a hallway and cursing as he called for the dog and then the sound of the dog “yelping.”
The woman then ran down the hall yelling “leave my dog alone,” and video showed LaPlatney-Reed and the woman pushing against each other before LaPlatney-Reed grabbed the cellphone and ran with it through the house, the affidavit says.
Both aggravated assault and battery charges as well as the property destruction and defacement charge carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The possession of a controlled substance charge is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of $1,000.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
