News briefs from around the state

Laramie County Sheriff’s office looking for woman after stabbing leaves man dead

CHEYENNE (WNE) – The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to locate a woman after a Monday morning stabbing that left a man dead.

Rocsand Bocanegra, 42, is considered a person of interest, the LCSO said in a news release. 

At 5:26 a.m. Monday morning, it said, deputies responded to the 700 block of Mitchell Court for a report of a man who was stabbed at that location. Deputies arrived on the scene and located a male victim suffering from a stab wound.

The victim was transported to the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The case is being investigated as a homicide.

Bocanegra is described as a 5’3”, 160-pound Hispanic female with brown hair and brown eyes.

Anyone who sees her should call 911 to report it, and they should not approach or attempt to contact her, the Monday afternoon news release said.

Those with information regarding her whereabouts should contact the detective bureau of the sheriff’s office at 307-633-4706 or the Laramie County Combined Communications Center at 307-633-6524.

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Evanston man accused of raping woman he met on Facebook 

EVANSTON (WNE)  — Evanston resident Sage Mason has been charged with one count of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of second degree sexual assault and one count of burglary. Mason was charged in Third District Court on Tuesday, July 26, and will be arraigned on Thursday. 

The alleged crimes were committed in November 2021, against an adult female victim, according to a sworn affidavit filed in District Court. 

On Nov. 4, 2021, Officer Shawn D. Stahl of the Evanston Police Department responded to the victim’s residence. The victim told Stahl that she had met Mason through Facebook Messenger several days prior. 

On the following day, Mason visited the victim’s residence at her invitation before getting into bed with her. According to the affidavit, “Mason started messing around, kissing the victim’s neck. The victim told him to stop, she did not want it.” Mason then begged 

her, and she told him no.

The alleged victim tried to leave the bed, according to the affidavit, but Mason pinned her down and removed her pants before undressing himself and allegedly raping her. Afterward, the affidavit says, “Mason asked the victim if she was mad at him because he ‘technically raped’ her.” 

Mason said he had subsequently gone to the victim’s house for dinner between three and five times in a row, and had spent three days together. According to the affidavit, Mason said that during the five days he’d spent with the woman, the two “had sex between five and six times, all consensual.”

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Witness: Elk chases Grand Teton National Park tourist who got too close

JACKSON (WNE) — The bull elk was standing in the rain, grazing, when Adam Collins pulled into the parking lot Friday to see the Chapel of the Sacred Heart in Grand Teton National Park.

The 44-year-old visitor from Glen Ellyn, Illinois, stopped the car and got out to take a few photos, making sure to keep his distance as the elk moved toward the Teton Park road. But other people didn’t keep their distance, including one man who went out on the road, started taking pictures and inching closer and closer to the elk. 

As Collins watched, that man got within 10 feet of the hoofed and horned ungulate. That’s when the elk appeared to decide it wasn’t having it.

“He kneeled down on one knee to take a picture and the elk turned, reared up and started charging him,” Collins said.

The man split, running backward through a grove of four trees to avoid getting gored. The elk got within 5 feet of the man, Collins said, but his decision to run through the trees turned out to be a good one. The elk stopped on one side. The man kept running.

“This guy was almost in arms’ reach of getting the antler end of the elk,” Collins said.

From what Collins saw, the man who narrowly dodged the elk’s horns didn’t appear to be injured. 

But the incident comes after a stretch of bison gorings in Yellowstone National Park earlier this summer, and serves as a reminder that wild animals — not just bison and bears — can be dangerous, especially when humans get too close. 

The rules for observing wildlife — and maintaining distance from toothy, four-legged, and furry creatures — in the southern national park are the same as in Yellowstone, Grand Teton’s larger, northern neighbor. Both parks require visitors to maintain at least 25 yards from all wildlife, and the parks’ rules warn that animals “are wild and may act aggressively if approached.”

This story was published August 9, 2022. 

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Barrasso pushes bill to support Japanese-American history

CODY (WNE) — A bill introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) could provide a boost to the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center and other similar sites.

The ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources introduced the Japanese American World War II History Network Act. This legislation directs the secretary of the interior to identify National Park Service units for inclusion in a network of historic sites related to Japanese American history during World War II.

“Much of the history of Japanese American internment during World War II is located in the West, including in Park County, Wyoming,” Barrasso said. “My legislation lays the groundwork for protecting this history for future generations. It will establish a process to recognize sites related to Japanese-American experiences in World War II to include in a historic network.

“The network will help improve access to the stories of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans who faced discrimination, involuntary relocation and confinement during the war. It represents an important chapter in American history that must be preserved.”

The bill’s introduction comes as Heart Mountain recently completed its annual pilgrimage event, which this year included the groundbreaking of the new Mineta-Simpson Institute.

Heart Mountain is run by the nonprofit Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. The foundation works to preserve what remains of the World War II Japanese-American confinement site in Park County and to tell the stories of the more than 14,000 people incarcerated at the site.

In August of 2011, the foundation opened the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, a museum dedicated to teaching this story to future generations.

This story was published on August 8, 2022.

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Powell man alleges Nethercott violates campaign finance law 

POWELL (WNE) — A complaint has been filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office that political signage used by Tara Nethercott in her statewide campaign violates election disclosure law. 

The Secretary of State’s Office in Cheyenne issued a brief reply on Aug. 8 to say it is reviewing the matter. 

James Andrews of Powell said Nethercott, a state senator running for Secretary of State 

in the Republican primary, has not provided required disclosure to identify who is paying for some large “printed literature” which he says should be considered as bill- boards. 

Yard signs and small printed campaign items such as tickets, bumper stickers, pens, pencils, buttons and the like are not considered “campaign literature or campaign advertising” that require disclosure. 

Andrews cites larger signage used by Nethercott in parades or campaign booths and said they amount to billboards which state campaign finance statutes require the candidate to dis- close the source of payment, as in “Paid for by the Committee to Elect Tara Nethercott.” 

“These signs are clearly not ‘small campaign items’ or yard signs,” Andrews said in his complaint. “They’re too big to meet that exception.” 

This story was published on August 9, 2022. 

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