CHEYENNE (WNE) – Nearly eight years after an arsonist set fire to the historic Hitching Post Inn, the final defendant in the federal case has been sentenced to probation for his involvement in that and several other, unconnected crimes.

According to a sentencing document filed Monday in a New York federal court, Judge Jack Weinstein found on March 5 that Falgun Dharia should be sentenced to probation, given his lack of other criminal history and an order to pay more than $11.3 million in restitution for the other crimes.

The New Jersey man pleaded guilty Sept. 1, 2015, to a single count of conspiring to commit insurance and wire fraud in connection with the Hitching Post fire.

Court documents state that when Dharia and his business partner purchased the Hitching Post Inn in 2010, the partner took out a $13.6 million insurance policy on the building.

Investigators found that because they didn’t have enough money to complete renovations on the property, Dharia and his partner hired a third person to destroy the Hitching Post and collect the proceeds from the insurance policy, the sentencing order states.

That partner, Ajay Jariwala of Albuquerque, New Mexico, hired a man to set fire to the hotel on Sept. 15, 2010.

Jariwala was sentenced in 2013 at the federal court in Cheyenne to six years in prison for one count of conspiracy to commit arson. Dharia received a $50,000 Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company payout, which he paid back.

In addition to the insurance fraud charges, Dharia was also sentenced for making false statements in a tax return, obstruction of justice and two counts of bank fraud in unrelated cases.

The historic motel kept some rooms open but closed the remaining buildings in September. Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr wants to demolish the buildings and is waiting for cost estimates to determine the next steps.

Cheyenne school district helps charter school set up library

CHEYENNE (WNE) – Cheyenne Poder Academy is using a donation of 30 boxes of books from Laramie County School District No. 1 to set up a library at its charter elementary school

The charter school receives state funding under the same formula used for all public schools in Wyoming. It opened an elementary school in 2012 and a secondary school in 2017.

LCSD1 had books available for donation because librarians and staff members recently looked through their libraries and pulled out books they felt were out of date, not relevant or in bad shape. Their removal opened shelf space for new additions.

LCSD1 trustee Sandy Shanor proposed the donation to Marcos Martinez, chief executive officer of Poder Academy, and he supported the effort. Eric Jackson, LCSD1’s assistant director of instruction, also agreed and helped Shanor coordinate the donation.

Poder also received donations from the Delta Kappa Gamma used book sale.

Steve Donker, Poder Academy’s custodian and maintenance specialist, said the school’s staff members also collected about 15 boxes of books beforehand, so they now have about 45 boxes of books to fill their shelves.

Poder Academy Principal Colton St. Peter said the library will be in a room that served as a classroom in previous years.

Donker said he knows the students will love the library because they are always excited to see the Laramie County Library’s Bookmobile, which comes on Fridays.

Wyoming Congressional Award winners honored

CHEYENNE (WNE) – They helped young children, worked with animals and assisted the elderly, cleaned up their hometowns and parks, worked on physical fitness and personal goals. They are the 169 young Wyoming people who are recipients of the 2018 Congressional Award for Youth.

On Sunday, Wyoming congressional delegation Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi and Rep. Liz Cheney came to Cheyenne to congratulate and hand medals to the recipients, as hundreds of family members and friends looked on.

High school students earned bronze, silver and gold medals depending on the amount of community service hours they completed, as well as their development in three other areas: physical fitness, personal development and expedition or
exploration.

The award recipients completed a total 98,000 community service hours.

“We are so proud of our young people … our kids have good common sense, they have the spirit of community and they volunteer,” Enzi said. “And this program helps to start that process.”

This year, Wyoming’s youth earned more of the medals than any state except California. Of the 55 gold medal winners, 28 were from Cheyenne, 10 from Casper, eight from Laramie, three from Powell, two from Encampment and one each from Elk Mountain, Otto and Rock Springs.

Most of the gold medal recipients will travel to Washington D.C. in June to receive their awards in a ceremony with others from across the country.

Find a complete list of medal winners at http://www.wcac.us/

Cheyenne police, fire chiefs press for budget increases

CHEYENNE – The city’s top public safety officials made their cases for more money Friday, asking City Council members for more than initially proposed to help police catch up to demands of a growing city and firefighters replace worn-out
equipment.

Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr’s Fiscal Year 2019 general fund budget proposal includes roughly $14 million for police and $10.8 million for the fire department. But this year, department heads were asked to compile requests for additional spending for dire needs. 

Cheyenne Fire and Rescue Chief Greg Hoggatt had a lot of those. And while many of them were smaller requests for maintenance and training, he described several as absolute essentials.

He said he needs $629,000 to replace breathing devices firefighters need to fight fires and $523,353 to replace radios so old Motorola is discontinuing support for them.

He asked for $121,074 to replace old hoses, $90,500 for new extrication equipment and $73,122 for systems that keep diesel exhaust from building up in station garages.

And when he finished, he clarified that even if the council approved all $2.9 million in additional requests, they wouldn’t touch needs for new vehicles or fire stations.

“But if you fund this,” he said, “it will start us on a great path toward much-needed equipment replacement and needs.”

But City Treasurer Ron Downey said he wouldn’t recommend taking more than $1 million to $2 million from reserves this year. “We didn’t get in this situation overnight,” he said, “and we can’t get out of it overnight.”

In an interview after his presentation, Hoggatt agreed. But he said the sooner the city starts digging the department out of its hole, the sooner the doomsday requests will go away.

Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak also warned of impending issues, but on a less immediate scale. He said statistics show his department is still performing at a high level, but that it is beginning to struggle with the city’s growth in
recent years.

Call volume has increased by 25 percent since 2015, he said, and response times for in-progress crimes are inching toward the upper limit of what’s expected. Officers are also spending less time working proactively in the community than recommended, he added, and many worry about having respond to dangerous calls without backup. 

Snowmobiler dies in avalanche in Teton County

JACKSON (WNE) – A snowmobiler died near Mt. Leidy on Sunday after getting buried in an avalanche, according to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office.

As of 7 p.m. Teton County Search and Rescue personnel were on scene recovering the body of a 24-year-old Minnesota man.

The team received the call at 4:10 p.m. Sunday when the man’s riding partners saw their friend get buried.

“They could see part of the snow machine,” Teton County Sheriff’s Lt. Matt Carr said, “but they couldn’t find him.”

One of the friends stayed to dig while the other one rode about 30 minutes to where he had cell service and called for help.

The men weren’t carrying any avalanche gear, Carr said.

 Wyoming writers gather in Dubois in June

DUBOIS (WNE) – New York Times best-selling author William Kent Krueger will give the keynote address at the 44th annual Wyoming Writers Inc. conference in Dubois June 1-3.

In addition to Krueger, workshop presenters and agents include:

• Middle grade and young adult fiction writer Nanci Turner Steveson.

• Wyoming poet laureate musician and inspirational writing instructor David Romtvedt.

• Self-publishing expert and world traveler Polly Letofsky.

• Becky LeJeune, associate agent with Denver’s Bond Literary Agency.

• Jackson-based editor and publisher Aaron Linsdau, Sastrugi Press.

• Carrie Howland, Empire Literary Agency, New York.

A special session the first night focuses on adventure and adventure writing.

The conference is funded in part by the Wyoming Arts Council through the National Endowment for the Arts and the Wyoming State Legislature.

Find more details www.wyowriters.org.