Town Secrets [Extensive reporting]
'How a Police Chief in Wyoming’s Ranchlands Lost Her War on Drugs
A campaign over meth, money and accountability cost law enforcement officers in Guernsey, Wyo., their jobs. Now their lawsuits are prying open the town’s secrets.
Ex-Guernsey police officers Terri VanDam, left, and Misty Clevenger.Credit...Stephen Speranza for The New York Times
Ali Watkins
For more than a year, Ms. VanDam and her sergeant, Misty Clevenger, had tried and failed to get to the bottom of the drug and alcohol problem in Guernsey, population 1,124. Methamphetamine use was rampant, and much of it was bought and sold right at the bars, they were told, but when anyone tried to investigate, they ran into a wall of silence that went right up to City Hall.
Not long after she had first started asking questions, she said, she had found a dead bird on her front porch, with a nail driven through it. Now, as chief, she had opened a full-scale investigation, and two townspeople warned that they had overheard the mayor talk about crippling the Police Department.
Not knowing where else to turn, Ms. VanDam reached out to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, asking for a team of state investigators to come into Guernsey and help turn her suspicions into a case.
“It is becoming a huge issue and is out of control,” she wrote. . .
“Meth’s run amok,” said Cheryl Hoff, a longtime Guernsey resident who has been one of the former police chief’s many supporters.
Neither the F.B.I. nor state investigators would say whether they opened a formal investigation based on Ms. VanDam’s referrals, but Ms. VanDam said she became convinced that no police officer in Guernsey would ever be able to tackle the problem alone.
“The culture and the population of that small town has been fearful for many years,” Ms. VanDam said. “If you ask the wrong questions, it’s going to have consequences.”
The end of the rail line
Guernsey is nestled in the high desert plain, more than a dozen miles east of the interstate that connects Denver and Casper. It has two claims to fame, the railroad and the Oregon Trail, both of which are now history — the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway shuttered its local hub last year, taking nearly a hundred jobs and Guernsey’s last real hope for a sustainable future.
. . . It is 15 miles from Guernsey in any direction to the next town, with nothing but sagebrush, cattle and spotty cell service in between.
. . .The town’s location near two major interstates helped fuel the movement of drugs, according to several former police officers who agreed to talk about their work in Guernsey, but they said they, like Ms. VanDam, ran into obstacles when they tried to learn who was bringing so much meth into town.
“There’s been a lot of corruption in this town in the last 10 years,” said Jeff Thomas, the chief of Guernsey’s Fire Department, who said he personally knew of instances in which a town official had pressured the Police Department into overlooking some drug and alcohol offenses.
“I want the drugs out,” he said. “I want the D.U.I.s taken care of.”
.
“I was told, ‘Don’t ask questions,’” she said. “We were basically told to turn a blind eye to certain things.”
. . .
“I told VanDam when she came in, if there was any assistance that I could give her, I would not step on her toes,” Mr. Paustian recalled.
For the women, it felt like a chance at cultural change. But Mr. Paustian’s promise was quickly tested: According to court documents, they began aggressively investigating many of the targets Ms. VanDam had previously been discouraged from exploring, including allegations that workers in the town maintenance department were buying and selling drugs. One of the council members, Kellie Augustyn, a longtime friend of the mayor, worked as a bartender and handyman at Kelley’s Bar — a favorite of the town’s leaders — where the police officers had heard reports that drugs were being sold through a drive-through window.
. . . The incident rattled Ms. VanDam and Ms. Clevenger, who felt the council was trying to handcuff the Police Department.
“I had never seen administration officials and Town Council members involved in the Police Department like that,” Ms. Clevenger said.
. . .
“Do you ladies realize the hornet’s nest you’re about to kick?” Mr. Williams asked at the time, according to court documents. He would go on to forward their information to the F.B.I. . . .
Mr. Paustian said he discussed Ms. VanDam’s allegations with investigators from the F.B.I. and the state last year, and was told the problems did not appear worse than in any other small town.
. . .
Seven former Guernsey police officers recalled in interviews being threatened, harassed or warned by town officials when they opened investigations.
“The old adage, that a police department is a reflection of the cultural norms and the desires of the people that it serves — unfortunately the culture in this case is wanton,” said Stephen O’Donnell, a former Guernsey police officer who left town in 2019 and now works as an officer in Jackson, Wyo. . . ,.
Joseph Hayes, who worked as a K-9 officer in Guernsey in 2010 and 2011, said he was pushed out when he began making headway on a drug case that involved well-connected people in town. “The dynamic there is just scary,” he said.
Ms. Clevenger, whose lawsuit against the city is set for trial in September, said city officials were focusing on fighting the two former officers instead of tackling the seriousness of Guernsey’s drug problem. . .
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/us/guernsey-wyoming-police-chief.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
