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Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Public Lands

People keep using a steep, scenic hillside above Sinks Cayon near Lander as a climbing challenge for off-road vehicles, leaving tire ruts that have lasted more than two decades, a retired Forest Service ranger says.

Overzealous off-roaders have illegally gone ripping up Fossil Hill so many times, retired forester Karl Brauneis wonders if the marred hillside will ever heal.

“I just don’t think that site is going to recover. And that fact that people keep driving up it means it’s going to remain an eyesore,” Brauneis told Cowboy State Daily.

In 2005, he wrote the last ticket of his career with the Forest Service after watching a young man on a dirt bike illegally buzzing up the hillside.

“I waited until he came back down, and then wrote him a ticket,” Brauneis said. “That kid who went up there, who I ticketed, was not the first one to go up there.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Nor was he the last, Brauneis said."}]

He still visits the site frequently, and took a recent photograph of an illegal two-track.

That's despite a barricade at the bottom of the hill and a sign stating the area is closed to motorized travel.

“For some folks the barricade and closure sign simply means, ‘Let’s go around and drive on up. It's so much fun to tear up rehabilitation sites,’" Brauneis said.

He added that the recurring off-road violations on Fossil Hill encapsulate the “chronic problem” of unauthorized off-road vehicle use on public lands.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The 50-40-10 Rule"}]

Brauneis noted that during his career Forest Service rangers and Wyoming Game and Fish wardens would go out together on “red shirt-green shirt patrols,” referencing the red shirts worn by wardens and the rangers’ green.

During one such patrol with a warden, Brauneis said they were discussing how many people are honest citizens compared to those who might try to bend or break the rules.

They came up with what he calls the “50-40-10 rule.”

Meaning, “50% of the people are law-abiding and will faithfully follow laws and regulations even when nobody’s watching," he said.

Then, there are the 40% who are “going to try get away with it, if they think they can get away with it,” he added.

The last 10% “will kill you if they think they can get away with it,” Brauneis said. “Fortunately, most of those are in prison. The bad news is, some of them might be getting out tomorrow.” 

To his estimation, the people running vehicles up Fossil Hill probably fall into the “40%” category – and don’t have truly bad intent.

“They are probably younger people who are just after the thrill,” he said.

 And in some cases, unauthorized off-roading could result from confusion over the rules on federal land, Brauneis added.

On Bureau of Land Management (BLM) tracts, the regulations for motorized use tend to be more permissive, he said. So, people accustomed to recreating there might not realize rules are stricter on Forest Service land.

As to why off-road violations might have gotten more common, Brauneis noted the availability and capability of vehicles has increased.

“I think everything escalates, gets bigger with the increased technology in vehicles,” he said. "But also, there’s the sheer number of people to consider.” 

The outdoors has become more crowded, and more people means greater odds of a relative few breaking the rules, he said.

Places that once were sparsely visited, such as the southern end of the Wind River Range, are drawing crowds, Brauneis said.

“It’s outwash from the big cities. It’s their land, and they want to recreate on it. And there’s no problem with that, but there’s just a huge amount of people out there,” he said.

He also noted that the Forest Service tried moving toward educating the public rather than having an immediate presence of rangers with ticketing authority on the ground.

Brauneis said the latter is more effective. The more rangers are on patrol, the better.

“Not in an antagonistic way, in a service way. But with the ability to take care of problems, if the need arises,” he said.

Brauneis said he’s not against roads or motorized use in general. He favors established Forest Service roads because they aid public travel and make fire mitigation and timber harvest more efficient.

And because the national forests are “America’s playground,” there should be areas where motorized users can enjoy themselves, he added.

Taylor Jones is a Sweetwater County commissioner and off-road enthusiast who advocates for motorized access.

He said he hates to see people breaking rules and tearing up places where vehicles aren’t supposed to go.

“Every group has that 10% who don’t play by the rules and give everybody else a bad name,” he said.

And those who abuse the land ruin things for all off-roaders, Jones said.

“What it can do – and we have seen it, so we know it’s true – is it can cause the motorized recreation community to lose access to public land. And, in some cases, also private land,” he said. “The motorized community has lost a tremendous amount of access to public land, and loses more on an annual basis.” 

Irresponsible people tearing up fragile landscapes are a big driver of that, he said.

However, by Jones’ estimation, there’s been a decline in illegal off-road use because motorized users know what’s at stake if they continue to let rule-breaking go unchecked.

“There’s a big push in the off-road clubs to raise awareness and be better stewards of the land,” he said. "There’s an awareness of the loss of access, and an understanding that breaking the rules causes it.” 

Off road where you shouldnt Hill 7 10 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Sinks Canyon Public Land Damaged By Illegal Off-Roaders 'May Never Recover' | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Off-roading tire ruts have marred Fossil Hill at Sinks Canyon near Lander for more than two decades, and a retired ranger says such illegal drivers tearing up public lands are a growing problem. “I just don’t think that site is going to recover," he said.

Sinks Canyon Public Land Damaged By Illegal Off-Roaders 'May Never Recover'

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

The prosecution of a former Gillette Little League board member and youth sports coach on suspicion of 13 felony charges relating to possession of child pornography has come as more than a shock for Brooke Deaton.

Not only is she the president of the Little League Board of Trustees, but two of her children were coached by 41-year-old Lawrence Spradlin prior to his June 22 arrest.

“He personally coached my son in soccer, so I was shocked,” Deaton told Cowboy State Daily, adding that he also coached her daughter’s softball team.

“I never had any indications about this,” she said, adding that neither did the rest of the Little League board. “He never hugged anybody, never got close. At best, he was annoying, but he was also the first to jump in and help people.”

She also said Spradlin could be “obnoxious” at times and “was socially awkward and would say things off the wall, but never inappropriate.”

When the Gillette Little League got word of Spradlin’s arrest, he was immediately removed from the board, Deaton said, adding that he was there when she came on the board and estimates his tenure at about five or six years.

The organization also never had any complaints about him relating to inappropriateness with players.

Deaton also said that the Little League is getting a lot of people questioning if it does background checks on its board members and coaches.

“The answer to that is yes, we do background checks,” she said. In Spradlin’s case “there was nothing in there that was of concern to trigger that a crime like this was possible.”

Although Spradlin’s alleged crimes have no connection to the league, Deaton said she and other board members have been fielding questions. Most have been supportive, but others not so much.

“I wish it would’ve been money or drugs or anything,” she said. “This is the worst thing that can happen to us as a league. Some of us have five or six kids of our own that play here.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Tips"}]

The local investigation into Spradlin began June 22 when the Gillette Police Department received information from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit (ICAC).

Acting on two tips to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children through Yahoo!, DCI reported that Spradlin had allegedly been receiving sexually explicit material of children, including emailing it to himself, GPD Officer Julianne Koloski wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed in Spradlin’s case.

The Yahoo! Tips were connected to Spradlin’s account, the affidavit says, which led investigators to find he allegedly emailed four explicit videos to himself on Feb. 20, 2026, and accessed another on March 15.

They all appeared to depict prepubescent females performing sex acts, with one that indicated it was “consensual blackmail,” the affidavit said.

Another video “showed a nude prepubescent female lying on her back,” Koloski wrote. “The girl had some sort of black strap attached around her chest, stomach and neck area.

“The girl’s legs were spread, and her knees were pulled up near her chest.”

A sexually aroused male also was in the video, penetrating the girl, the affidavit says.

A DCI agent also noted that access to the account with the alleged child sex material was from a Gillette internet service provider and accessed by a local cellphone that traced to Spradlin, the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Search Warrant"}]

Gillette police then acted on a request from DCI to contact Spradlin and execute a search warrant at his home on the morning of June 24.

“Lawrence was contacted at the door … (and) confirmed his phone number, email address, phone carrier and device all matched the information matching the investigation,” the affidavit says.

“Lawrence also confirmed his device has been in his control for the entire time period in question,” the document adds.

What investigators found on his phone’s “hidden folder” would lead to more charges, Koloski wrote.

That includes nine other videos of underage girls having sex with men, along with performing other acts with themselves and with objects, the affidavit says.

“The bedrooms appeared to belong to juveniles, with bright colors and very youthful bedding and décor,” Koloski wrote.

The videos all were tagged as coming from Telegram, which “is a well-known hub for the distribution of child pornography through various chat rooms,” the affidavit said.

Overall, Spradlin faces 13 felony charges of sexual exploitation of children, each carrying a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

If convicted and given consecutive max sentences, he faces up to 130 years in prison and fines up to $130,000.

He waived his preliminary hearing in Campbell County Circuit Court, and was bound over to District Court this week.

His next court appearance is an arraignment set for July 30, at which time he’ll be asked to plead to the charges.

Lawrence Spradlin mug 7 10 26

<title>Former Gillette Little League Coach And Board Member Faces 13 Child Porn Charges | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A former Gillette Little League coach and board member could get up to 130 years in prison if convicted of 13 child pornography charges. “He personally coached my son in soccer, so I was shocked,” said the league’s president.

Former Gillette Little League Coach And Board Member Faces 13 Child Porn Charges

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

A Mexican national sentenced Tuesday to 180 days in jail for charging toward a Teton County Sheriff’s deputy with his box truck is trying to remain in the United States, his defense attorney said in court.

Ramon Gabriel Chavez Cruz, 46, pleaded no contest Tuesday in Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens’ court, to one count of aggravated assault.

He was arrested the night of June 4, 2024, after waging what court documents describe as repeated attempts to ram his truck into vehicles in the Snake River Canyon on U.S. Highway 89, between Alpine and Jackson.

The case affidavit by then-Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper Mike Merritt compiles statements by drivers and their families. Those witnesses said they maneuvered in reverse and swerved into barrow ditches to escape Chavez Cruz’s head-on chases.

“The individual in the vehicle that attempted to collide with us deliberately crossed the centerline at a high rate of speed, targeted our vehicle, and attempted to kill my family,” the affidavit relates from the account of Roy Walters, who said he’d been in the back seat of a family vehicle while his son Eamonn drove, and Roy’s wife, Kate, sat in the front passenger seat. “By the grace of God and my son’s quick reactions the collision was barely avoided.”

The prosecutor, Teton County Deputy Attorney Claire Fuller, emphasized at Chavez Cruz’s sentencing hearing that only one of Chavez Cruz’s many, alleged head-on charges happened in Teton County.

The rest happened in Lincoln County, where County Attorney Spencer Allred is waiting to prosecute Chavez Cruz “to the full extent of the law,” Allred told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.

Chavez Cruz struck a plea agreement with the Teton County Attorney’s Office, under which he pleaded no contest to one count of aggravated assault. That’s a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines. Fuller agreed to drop three  misdemeanors, including DUI.

And Owens, who accepted the agreement, sentenced Chavez Cruz to a split sentence: 180 days in jail followed by three years’ probation – with the threat of a two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half-year prison sentence remaining if he fails probation.

The 222 days Chavez Cruz has already spent in jail awaiting Tuesday’s hearing eclipsed his sentence and he’s to be released from Teton County. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office expects to take him into custody soon, a jail deputy confirmed to Cowboy State Daily Thursday.

[{"type":"text","text":"That’s Allred’s understanding as well."}]

Chavez Cruz faces potentially much harsher consequences in Lincoln County, where Allred has filed eight counts of aggravated assault against him – one for each person he allegedly charged with his truck. Allred also filed a ninth count, misdemeanor reckless driving, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.  

It’s unclear what role, if any, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plays in this case. The agency declined to discuss Chavez Cruz’s immigration status, writing in a Friday email, “ICE cannot provide any information on this individual.”

Chavez Cruz has a special kind of immigration visa indicating he’s been a crime victim, Trefonas told the court.

“He’s a victim of some incredibly severe, traumatic physical crimes. And so were his wife and children,” said Trefonas. “That all led up to these events: working 24/7; having terror, trauma in his life – and some drug use.”

Trefonas said Chavez Cruz has accepted responsibility in the Teton County case. He’s from Oaxaca, Mexico, and “he’s in a legal process to remain in the United States lawfully, irrespective of these charges,” said Trefonas.

Chavez Cruz told Owens, “For every impacted person in my case, I feel really, really sorry for what happened. I’m willing to take every step to fix the situation – here and Lincoln County.”

While nearly all the drivers Chavez Cruz is accused of chasing with his box truck evaded uninjured, Eric Leonard did not.

Merritt responded to the canyon area at about 10:42 p.m. the night of June 4, 2024, while the two counties’ dispatchers received at least a dozen 911 calls about a violent driver, the affidavit says.

Vehicle descriptions ranged from RV to “semi-type truck” and the culprit vehicle was identified as a box truck registered to Chavez Cruz.

He’d incorporated a transport business called “Your Freight Guys” in Aurora, Colorado, two months before his arrest.

The 911 calls kept coming. Merritt “was advised the large truck had continued northbound toward Jackson after running a car off the road,” so the trooper asked Teton County Sheriff’s deputies to track the truck down while he pulled off to investigate a white BMW that sat in the ditch with its front end smashed and its air bags deployed.

Two men, Brian and Nolan Potts, were on scene. Brian was “visibly shaken up,” wrote Merritt.

Merritt found Brian’s friend Leonard in the BMW’s driver’s seat, and emergency personnel “being careful” about pulling him out because they suspected a back injury.

Leonard said the truck crossed from its northbound lane into his southbound lane to hit them.

“I swerved hard because he was coming directly at me, head-on,” Leonard recalled in a Friday interview with Cowboy State Daily. “When we went into the ditch we went airborne. I don’t know how long we were in the air, but I know we crashed down very hard, and I felt my back immediately.”

He broke his L2 vertebra, Leonard said. As of this week, he still struggles to load the dishwasher, he added.

The three friends had been hiking in Yellowstone that day and were headed back to a cabin Leonard rented in Alpine, using the BMW – which was also rented.

“Had I been on the other side of the road, I would have driven down in the Snake River,” Leonard said. “And then I’d be – probably not talking to you.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Witnesses, More Witnesses"}]

Merritt interviewed a man and woman “hanging around” and trying to help. They were Michael and Kym Arian.

When they first spotted the box truck they saw another vehicle speeding backwards away from it as it chased to ram it “front to front,” wrote Merritt from the Arians’ statements. 

That backward driver was later identified as Josh Petrey, and his passenger as Kara Petrey, the affidavit says.

The box truck halted in the middle of the road. The driver got out of the vehicle and ran toward the vehicle it had blocked onto the road, screaming, “Why are you following me!” says the document.

The driver got back into the truck and “took off,” then “made it a point to drive at the Arians in an aggressive manner, trying to ram their vehicle off the road,” Merritt recounted from the alleged victims’ statements.

Michael Arian was able to dodge. Then he followed the box truck while calling law enforcement. And that was when he and Kym saw the crashed BMW and stopped to help, reportedly.

[{"type":"text","text":"Why Are You Following Me?"}]

Another set of witnesses, Brian, Jodi and Colten Cook, wrote a later email to investigators saying they were halfway through the canyon that night “when a big cargo truck pulled sideways on the road, blocking both lanes.”

They thought the driver was attempting a turn in a “terrible place to try and turn around, because he was blocking both lanes of traffic,” the account says.

Then the man got out of the truck and ran toward them shouting “why are you following me?” and the driver of the Cooks’ car threw it into reverse to escape him, says the affidavit. The Cooks said the driver got back in his truck and tried to “run over” a car headed south toward Alpine.

The Cooks kept driving, flashing their headlights at other cars. They watched other cars swerve into the barrow pit, as the cargo truck kept “chasing us,” the account says, adding,  “This happened at least 12-15 times.”

“At one point he was chasing us and trying to run us over from behind,” the account says. “As soon as we were able to get cell coverage, we called 911.”

Josh Petrey’s email to investigators says he and Kara saw the truck parked across both lanes of the canyon and waited for it to move, but it was empty. Then the owner got into the truck, and Josh backed up to give him room.

“He then (started) trying to ram us,” the account says. “I reversed going between 20 and 30 mph. I zigzagged from one side to the other so he could not get any momentum.”

Josh Petrey assumed the driver got upset with this tactic. The driver slammed on his brakes in the middle of the road and got out of the truck, reportedly.

Josh Petrey rolled down his window to find out if the man was all right, he recalled.

“Have you had enough?!” yelled the driver, while charging the Petreys’ car on foot, says the account.

Josh Petrey sped past him and around his truck, where two other vehicles sat waiting. Josh rolled down his window and told the driver of a white truck to leave the area.

“We sped off and warned two different vehicles not to head that way, because the guy was unhinged,” wrote Josh Petrey.

He and his wife made it to Alpine, within cellphone signal range, and called 911.

Merritt’s affidavit includes an account from Marcus Loefverstrom, who recalled driving down the road with his wife and 11-month old son.

The family met multiple vehicles with their lights flashing “aggressively to warn me about something.”

The family saw a truck change lanes and head toward them; Loefverstrom tried to veer to the right into a rocky ditch, but realized that plan was no good, he wrote.

“I made a last-ditch decision to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid him on the left,” Loefverstrom wrote. Fortunately, the lane was clear. But they narrowly missed a head-on collision with the truck, reportedly.

“My wife remembers waking up to headlights right in front of our car. A near miss,” wrote Loefverstrom.

Loefverstrom watched other cars veer off the road. The driver of a Jeep asked if the family were OK and when Loefverstrom said they were, that driver “rushed off,” he recalled.

Loefverstrom called another family member, who was still in town, to tell her not to leave town yet.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Walters family gave a similar report, wrote Merritt."}]

The box truck crossed lanes “and attempted to head-on us,” wrote Roy Walters in his statement. Roy’s son Eamonn veered onto the shoulder, but the truck “tracked us and continued to try to collide with us,” the account says.

[{"type":"text","text":"Roy’s wife Kate added that they were trying to get home to Etna."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"They saw Leonard in the crashed BMW and pulled off to help him."}]

“He was shaking and moaning,” Kate recalled. They gave him a blanket and water.

[{"type":"text","text":"Against The Guard Rail"}]

All of that happened in Lincoln County, allegedly. The case to determine whether Chavez Cruz is guilty of all those claims is ongoing. It was charged two years ago: June 26, 2024, but is now becoming active since Teton County has concluded its case against Chavez Cruz, said Allred.

Teton County Sheriff’s Deputy Caleb Johnson was still in Teton County as he responded to 911 calls about a “crazy driver,” Fuller said in court.

There the box truck crossed both lanes and charged him so that he had to “suck up to the guard rail to avoid being hit,” Merritt’s affidavit says.

Deputies converged, and stopped the box truck in Teton County. The truck driver informed them he thought he “was one of them,” the trooper wrote.

Investigators noted a Delta 8 edibles package in the truck cab, open and empty, added Merritt.

“Teton County got lucky in this case,” said Fuller at the sentencing hearing, adding, “The people in Teton County got lucky, I should say. The defendant’s actions began in Lincoln County.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Two Years Later"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Leonard was frustrated Tuesday. "}]

He had a hot-mic moment in the virtual court hearing in which he called Chavez Cruz a “career criminal.”

A Mexican national who faces eight felonies is attempting to stay in the country after he allegedly chased down and tried to ram travelers off the road in Snake River Canyon. He "deliberately crossed the centerline and targeted our vehicle," one victim said.