A Colorado woman accused of rolling out of a Cheyenne fireworks store with nearly $2,000 worth of pyrotechnics — including a "State of Emergency," "Magic Dragon," and a "King Leo" — has been bound over to district court on a felony theft charge.
Sandra May Bafia, 61, waived her preliminary hearing Monday in Laramie County Circuit Court, sending the case to district court more than a year after the alleged theft.
A clerk with Laramie County District Court confirmed Tuesday an arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. Bafia is next expected to appear in district court, where she will enter a plea.
The incident unfolded June 22, 2025, at Artillery World along Interstate 25 in Cheyenne, according to an affidavit filed by Larimer County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Grover.
The store's manager, Haley Nye, called 911 to report that two women had filled a shopping cart with fireworks and headed south toward Colorado in a gray Honda Odyssey with Colorado temporary plates.
Nye told the dispatcher the females were "white females in their 40s wearing long gray cardigans," the affidavit says.
Cashier Encounter
Store employee Abdullah Al Habsi told investigators one of the women, later identified as Melissa Thompson, approached a register near the door and told the employee "she needed to go out to the car because her friend needed her," Grover wrote.
Abdullah reportedly asked Thompson if she paid for the fireworks, "and she continued to tell him she needed to go to her vehicle."
The affidavit says she then walked out the door without paying.
Store employees followed.
Outside, employees found Bafia loading fireworks into the van, Grover wrote.
When employee Breanna Elliott began removing fireworks from the vehicle, Bafia allegedly insisted the merchandise had been paid for and said she would produce a receipt.
The situation escalated from there.
Getaway Van
One person who tried to stop the suspect suffered a scraped elbow after being pushed while trying to recover the fireworks.
Another employee also reported being pushed while attempting to stop Bafia from loading fireworks into her car.
Both employees rated their pain at "2 out of 10," the affidavit notes.
Witnesses told investigators Bafia and another woman eventually climbed into the van and drove away, leaving behind only a handful of items in the shopping cart.
According to Grover, employees reported the van accelerated through the parking lot toward several people standing nearby.
"Melissa started driving towards them at a high rate of speed," Grover wrote. "Melissa swerved and did not hit them but was approximately 10 feet away from them."
The getaway was short-lived.
Jumping Jacks, Unicorns
Larimer County deputies in Colorado stopped the vehicle in Wellington, where authorities recovered fireworks allegedly taken from the store.
Grover wrote that Colorado deputies later informed him that Bafia and Thompson were being arrested for possession of stolen property and narcotics.
Investigators ultimately calculated the value of the stolen fireworks at $1,908.85.
The haul allegedly included three Jumping Jacks, two Unicorns, a Magic Dragon, a USA, a Ground Bloom, two Cute Bats, seven Glow Sticks, an Amazing Para, five T Noise Makers, four Wizard Wands, 11 Neon Wands, a Mad Dog, an Ant Eater, a State of Emergency, a Space Rocket, a King Leo, three Toy Worlds and a Pyro Freak.
The most expensive item was the King Leo firework, valued at $295.99.
Under Wyoming law, felony theft is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Bafia is out of detention on a $5,000 cash bond.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
