CASPER, Wyo. — Three Natrona County residents pleaded guilty to trespassing and one got a 10-day jail sentence after a Casper police officer found them at a trash-filled makeshift camp about half a mile into the woods off Bryan Stock Trail.
According to his report, Casper Police Officer Justyn Singh had noticed suspicious activity over a three-week period in the area around Lake McKenzie. On several occasions, he noticed a red GMC parking in a gravel turnout off Bryan Stock Trail and a man walking off into the woods carrying numerous items.
The officer spoke to people at the lake and learned they’d seen several people go into the woods. The area along the riverbank southeast of the lake is owned by Knife River. There were posted “No Trespassing” signs and a large metal gate with a barbed wire fence at the end of the dirt road, with dirt trails beyond.
On Sunday, May 17, Singh saw the red GMC parked in the turnout and the same man went off to woods carrying something blue, the report said. Singh and a few other law enforcement members went searching.
The officer noticed unweathered trash as they made their way down the trail, and about half a mile in they heard a man’s voice. Moving in closer, they saw tents and tarps and heard music playing.
“The camp was repulsive as it smelled like cigarettes, trash and liquor,” Singh noted in his report. There were numerous tents and tarps, gas cans and propane tanks and a large pile of trash in the center of the camp.
Singh said that the camp posed a human and environmental hazard and that the amount of trash had probably taken over a month to accumulate.
A 60-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman were arrested for trespassing. Olen Robinson, 65, admitted the camp was his and said he had been trying to clean it up one load at a time, but Officer Singh said he did not find the statement credible. Robinson was arrested for trespassing and littering.
All three pleaded guilty or no contest in circuit court on Monday afternoon. The 44-year-old got time served, and the 60-year-old was ordered to $520 in fines and court costs.
Robinson was sentenced to 10 days in jail.
