(Riverton, WY) – The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Wyoming District, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation held a press conference today, August 29, in Riverton, in response to the recent presence of FBI agents conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activities in and around the Wind River Reservation.”
Photos began circulating yesterday on social media and the local news cycle of one of these operations in Fort Washakie, leading many to speculate it was a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)/National Guard operation, which later proved to be false, as per statements from the FBI Denver Field Office and the Eastern Shoshone Tribe.
Newly-appointed Interim United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming, Darin D. Smith, led today’s press conference to share further details concerning the recent operations. (It should be noted that media questions were not permitted at this conference due to the sensitive nature of the operations.)
“I’m pleased to announce a successful operation that was carried out by the Safe Trails Task Force,” Smith stated at the top of the address. “The goal (of which was) eliminating drugs and illegal firearms that have really threatened the Eastern Shoshone and the Northern Arapaho… on the Wind River Indian Reservation.”
“Thanks to President Trump and Operation Take Back America, law enforcement has been empowered at the highest level to act boldly and hold bad actors accountable to make our community safer. This includes the Wind River Reservation, Fremont County, and really all the communities within the state of Wyoming.”
Smith later added that this “new level” of empowerment will help “our prosecutors to utilize our resources to hold criminals, violent criminals, and criminals that are trying to poison our kids, accountable for their actions.”
“These defendants with this operation will be charged with the most serious provable offenses… that can be fully prosecuted to the greatest extent of the law.”
Smith went on to explain these efforts were not completed “alone,” and cited the partnership with “the FBI, the tribal police, the state and local police departments, especially the highway patrol and the Riverton PD, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.”
Assistant Special Agent in charge of the FBI’s Denver field office, Tyler McCurdy, then spoke on behalf of the FBI.
“The FBI is focused on ending violent crime in our communities and holding drug dealers accountable. Over the past two days here in Fremont County, more than 90 FBI personnel worked together alongside our partners to target illegal drugs and guns in this community,” McCurdy commented. He shared that during this operation, 12 federal search warrants were executed, along with one federal arrest warrant and three local arrest warrants.
McCurdy went on to explain that the Wyoming-based FBI personnel were supplemented by “FBI SWAT from Salt Lake and FBI SWAT from Denver, as well as FBI tactical assets from Quantico, Virginia,” in addition to the partners previously mentioned by Smith.
“Illegal guns and drugs affect all of our communities, including Fremont County and the Wind River Indian Reservation. This is why we work in task forces with our partners across the United States to impact crime everywhere, no matter how large or small the community.”
McCurdy commented that over the last year, the Rocky Mountain Safe Trails Task Force has had “many successes,” and cited the apprehension and sentencing of “two illegal aliens” who were recently sentenced for drug trafficking and possession of illegal weapons.
(Click here and here to read about those cases.)
“Our task force proved that the two illegal aliens were bringing large quantities of methamphetamine up from Denver to sell here in Fremont County. At the time of their arrest, we seized an additional five illegal guns, cocaine, and a pound of methamphetamine.”
McCurdy also cited a case involving two locals who were sentenced back in July, which saw two women who were convicted after importing six pounds of methamphetamine to Fremont County from Las Vegas.
“These drug crimes lead to a cycle of violence that we aim to break. Many people have died here in Fremont County as a result of this cycle through drug-related homicides or through unintentional overdoses. The impact this drug epidemic has on families in this area and throughout the country cannot be overstated.”
McCurdy then stated that “in the coming weeks, you will see more results of our work from the last two days play out in state and federal court as well as through additional enforcement actions by the Safe Trails Task Force.”
“We will continue to work closely with our partners to keep our communities safe and tackle violent crime. We will continue to update you on the progress.”
Smith went on to close out the press conference with the following words.
“We’d like to thank all of our law enforcement officers for all they do to keep our community safe. We are fighting for you. And I have a message for the bad actors out there, those that are poisoning our kids, (who are) trying to bring in meth and fentanyl and and other drugs. We’re coming for you.”
Call 1.800.CALL.FBI or report online at tips.fbi.gov if you would like a safe way to report a crime to the FBI.