Laramie County Sheriff: Detective Disrupted 'Substantial Threat'

A Laramie County Sheriff's Office Detective assigned to work with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration Drug Task Force was recently recognized for submitting the most case referrals to the United States Attorney's Office for prosecution in 2022.

That's according to a post on the LCSO Facebook page. According to the post:

''In 2022, this Detective investigated a fentanyl distribution conspiracy and identified several local distributors and their source of supply in Colorado. It was estimated that the drug distributors identified in this investigation were responsible for the distribution of approximately 60,000 fentanyl pills between Colorado, Cheyenne, and other areas of Wyoming.''

The post goes on to credit the detective with disrupting a "substantial threat" to Wyoming in general and especially to Cheyenne. For his work, he was recently recognized by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming.

His name and face were withheld in the post to protect his identity. The name under the photo in our article is a photo credit for the person who took the photo.

The post goes on to say that Sheriff Kozak has assigned an additional detective to the DEA to help battle the local drug problem.

2022's Deadliest Wyoming County by Traffic Deaths

While car crashes can occur anywhere, some roads in Wyoming are more dangerous than others.

According to Wyoming Highway Patrol data, there were 117 fatal crashes in the Cowboy State in 2022 resulting in 133 deaths.

Of those fatal crashes, the majority (13.68%) occurred in Laramie County -- two in January, one in February, one in March, two in April, one in June, two in July, three in August, two in September, one in November, and one in December.

Sweetwater County saw the second most fatal crashes last year, 12, while Fremont and Lincoln counties each saw 10.

Albany and Park counties each recorded eight, and Campbell, Converse, and Natrona counties each tallied seven.

The deadliest 2022 crash in Laramie County took place on June 17 when two semis collided on Interstate 80 east of Cheyenne and immediately became engulfed in flames killing both drivers and a passenger.

Laramie County also saw two fatal crashes involving motorcyclists, two fatal crashes involving juveniles, and a fatal crash involving a pedestrian last year.

Below is the Wyoming Highway Patrol narrative of every fatal crash that occurred in Laramie County in 2022.

Gallery Credit: Joy Greenwald