A Sublette County commissioner has reported as stolen a sign announcing the distance to his ranch, and warned the public that stealing objects worth more than $1,000 is a felony in Wyoming.
The sign vanished roughly a day after Sublette County Commissioner Doug Vickrey vocally opposed a permitting renewal for a large residential treatment facility.
Jason and Melinda Moyes, the husband and wife who own the property where the sign sat, had hoped to open that treatment facility.
They moved their family from California to Wyoming in 2020 to build a residential treatment center for girls in Sublette County.
The Moyes couple did not admit taking the sign when they spoke Thursday to Cowboy State Daily. But they said that removing a sign planted on their property along Pape Road isn’t theft.
“There was no theft,” said Jason Moyes during a speakerphone interview also involving his wife, adding that act was, rather, “just removing something from our property that shouldn’t have been there.”
He added that he and his wife tried going through “the proper channels” to get the sign removed prior, but local authorities would not help.
Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich said he’ll ask the County Commission to authorize a special prosecutor – probably Goshen County Attorney Eric Boyer – to investigate the case and whether any prosecution should follow.
Boyer didn’t return a voicemail request for comment.
Vickrey told Cowboy State Daily last week that he doesn’t want to comment much because the sign situation is an ongoing investigation.
He referred the outlet instead to his Facebook posts.
“Wonders never cease,” wrote Vickrey in an Oct. 21 post. “Sometime after I came home from the commission meeting yesterday at 5:30 and today at 3::30 (sic) someone stole our ranch sign.”
“This was no small endeavor as the pipe was in The ground 4 feet,” he added. “The tracks indicate it took a loader of some kind to lift it out of the ground. If anyone noticed equipment in the vicinity during this time please contact the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office. We are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.”
Investigation Confirmed
Sublette County Sheriff’s Lt. Travis Bingham confirmed the investigation to Cowboy State Daily.
Jason and Melinda Moyes own property along Highway 191 and Pape Road.
Whether the sign sat within the county right-of-way, or on the Moyes’ unencumbered land, might be a subject of the investigation.
Jason Moyes supplied Cowboy State Daily with an easement document showing the county right of way stretches 66 feet across the area. He said the Vickrey ranch sign fell within those 66 feet, but the county only has authority to put road operation signs there.
Jason did not say that he or Melinda removed the sign.
But Vickrey has it back by now, he added.
“A team of people … got it removed,” he said, adding that someone delivered it to Vickrey.
“Yeah that’s what I’ve heard,” Vickrey countered in his own interview Thursday. “I haven’t physically gotten it.”
Vickrey said the sheriff told him the sign had been returned, but he won’t reclaim it until the sheriff authorizes him to.
“I would assume it is (evidence),” added Vickrey.
On the Moyes’ property sits a large wooden sign announcing a destination three miles away. Another sign used to hang from that, announcing “Vickrey Ranch, 4 Miles.”
It vanished last spring.
“I don’t know who removed that. I didn’t have anything to do with that,” said Jason Moyes.
So Vickrey had another sign made, a metal frame structure once again announcing, “Vickrey Ranch, 4 Miles.”
Jason said he and his wife have given various people permission to keep their hanging signs on the large wooden sign.
But as for the metal sign announcing “Vickrey Ranch,” Jason said Vickrey did not own that, since it was planted in the Moyes’ land.
He said that a sign becomes real property rather than personal property that can be stolen, once planted in the land.
Tom Lubnau, who has been practicing law in Wyoming since 1984, evaluated that claim in a Tuesday phone interview.
“I think it’s a good issue for a judge,” said Lubnau. “But it’s not a baseless argument.”
The Project
Vickrey has opposed Jason Moyes’ developments on other occasions as well.
Some of Moyes’ planned builds have been significant.
In 2024 they sought to build a 51-lot subdivision on 299 acres on the property.
They punted that plan when it became a logistical challenge.
Jason Moyes said Vickrey was part of that.
“We had a rezone and an approved map for a subdivision, and he opposed that project. He brought in (Wyoming) Game and Fish to the project to try to get the project killed, by bringing in a migration route issue.”
Moyes said Vickrey would approve a permitting extension for one subdivision, then deny theirs.
“So we’ve dealt with his just back and forth, selective enforcement on all our projects for at least four years now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vickrey has remained adamant about the sign’s removal being felony theft.
He noted in an Oct. 22 Facebook post that felony theft is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $1,000 in fines.
Pretty Fast
Jason Moyes voiced intrigue over the speed with which the sheriff’s office became involved.
“A week or two ago the sign was removed in the afternoon and the next morning delivered back to Doug Vickrey’s property. He made all kinds of claims about it being felony theft. Got a search warrant. Got the currently elected sheriff involved. Made a big deal about it,” he said. “I don’t know many times in Sublette County where someone’s personal sign gets stolen and it escalates to search warrants and the sheriff getting involved with the kind of speed that happened.”
Vickrey ended his interview with a vague statement:
"There are things that shouldn’t be happening but they are; this won't be the first instance," he said. "We'll see more and more, different people, move into Sublette County. That's just what it’s gonna be."
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
