In Daniel, Wyoming — population 148 — people grow up together, hunt together, ranch together and often know each other for a lifetime.
When national animal welfare groups revealed Thursday they paid a confidential informant $15,000 for helping build the felony animal cruelty case against now convicted wolf-abuser Cody Roberts, it added a new layer to one of Wyoming’s most polarizing criminal cases.
Somebody close enough to know what happened decided to say something, says a pair of animal rights groups.
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy announced Thursday that they paid a confidential informant $15,000 for providing information that “contributed meaningfully” to the successful prosecution of Roberts, whose mistreatment of a live wolf in 2024 ignited international outrage and put the tiny western Wyoming town under a microscope.
The organizations say the informant came forward “at great personal risk,” adding that without that person’s cooperation, the case “likely never would have advanced to indictment and conviction.”
Local authorities, however, are saying little publicly about the witness, including if the informant is from Wyoming or the nature of the information passed on about Roberts.
Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich declined to discuss the extent of witness cooperation while Roberts still retains the right to appeal his conviction and sentence.
Roberts was sentenced last month to 18 months of probation after pleading guilty to...
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