All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
(Riverton, WY) – 70-year-old Riverton man Jeffery King was arrested earlier this week in relation to a domestic abuse warrant, and he was subsequently charged with one count of felonious restraint, one count of misdemeanor reckless endangering, and one count of misdemeanor domestic battery.
King faces these charges for a reported incident occurring in October 2024, where court documents indicate he forced a female individual into his vehicle and physically assaulted her, resulting in the victim jumping out of the vehicle twice to get away.
The complaint document filed on March 24 states that on October 17, 2024, a Fremont County Sheriff’s Office deputy was on patrol in Riverton, when dispatch advised they received reports of a female subject who had jumped out of a minivan in the area of Bee Road in Riverton.
Dispatch also advised that the reporting party indicated the victim had multiple injuries and had likely been assaulted by a male subject, later determined to be King. The reporting party also informed that they had picked up the victim and taken her to a Riverton residence, at the request of the victim.
While en route to this residence, the Sheriff’s Office deputy observed the female victim “walking southbound… on Highway 789.”
When the deputy contacted the victim, he observed the left side of her face to be “swollen and bruised,” and her entire left ear “appeared to be swollen and was heavily bruised.”
The deputy also observed “what appeared to be fresh blood” on her face and shirt collar, as well as bruising on her legs and lower left abdomen.
The victim informed deputies she also had bruises that were “caused by King all over the rest of her body that were hidden by her clothing.”
The victim went on to tell law enforcement that she had been walking on the bike path in Riverton, when she began walking with another subject she met up with while on the path.
The victim then stated that King “pulled up in his vehicle and confronted the subject,” at which point “they began arguing and both pulled out knives on each other.”
The victim’s statements in the complaint then inform that the other subject walked away, and King “turned his attention to (her)” and “grabbed her by the shirt and forced her into his vehicle.”
The victim commented that she “tried to fight King off” and told him “several times she did not want to go with him.”
King then drove away with the victim in the front passenger seat, the complaint document continues, when King began “punching (her) in the face and head,” and at one point began striking her in the face/head with a wrench and “other tools.”
The victim then stated that she “exited the moving vehicle and rolled into a ditch,” at which point King “exited his vehicle and continued beating (her) up.”
King then forced the victim back into his vehicle, but she was able to “exit the moving vehicle once more,” which was witnessed by the subject who ultimately picked her up and reported the situation to the Sheriff’s Office.
During the questioning with law enforcement, the victim told deputies that she and King had “been in a romantic relationship on and off for approximately six years,” that he had been “physically abusive in the past,” and that at one point, he even “stabbed her in her leg.”
The victim was soon transported to a local hospital for treatment.
The next day, deputies made contact with the subject who was walking with the victim on the bike path when the reported assault began.
The subject stated that they were walking together on the bike path when King arrived, exited his minivan, and began “talking s***.”
The subject recalled that “King pulled out a knife,” which prompted the subject to brandish a knife as well, “fearing he might get stabbed.”
The subject informed deputies that during this interaction, King “repeatedly told (the victim) to get into the vehicle.”
The subject ultimately “decided it would be best if he did not get involved and decided to walk away,” the complaint continues.
The subject went on to inform deputies that King then turned his attention to the victim, grabbed her by the shirt, and “began dragging (her) towards the vehicle,” while she “repeatedly said ‘no no no.'”
King then “drove off in his vehicle with (the victim) in the passenger seat,” the subject confirmed.
The complaint concludes with a note informing that the victim had told law enforcement King “had a pistol under the driver’s seat of the vehicle” and that he also had “several rifles in his residence,” despite being “reported to be disqualified from owning firearms.”
King was subsequently arrested on March 24, 2025.
His initial appearance hearing took place on March 26, and his preliminary hearing has been scheduled for April 3rd in the Lander Circuit Court.
The maximum punishment for a felonious restraint charge is imprisonment of up to 5 years.
The maximum punishment for misdemeanor reckless endangering is one year imprisonment.
The maximum punishment for a misdemeanor domestic battery charge is 6 months imprisonment and a $750 fine .
County 10 will provide updates on King’s case, which can be viewed here.