GILLETTE, WY — Immigration and Customs Enforcement transfers in Campbell County have intersected with a string of local criminal cases, according to court files and jail records reviewed by the Gillette News Record. Between May 2025 and the start of June this year, county law enforcement agencies handed 87 people to ICE custody, most of them tied to nonviolent traffic matters such as speeding.
But the records also show a more complicated pattern. In some cases, people were moved to ICE custody while investigations into sexual assault, domestic battery or other violent allegations were still open. About half of the 87 transferred inmates never had charges filed in District Court, and the paperwork does not always explain why they were sent to immigration custody.
A sexual assault probe stalled after an ICE detainer
One case centered on Assurim Rosas-Santaella, who was being interviewed by Gillette police when Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers stepped in to assist, according to a Feb. 3, 2026, incident report. The report said officers were responding to a support request from the police department and that Rosas-Santaella had an ICE detainer.
After the immigration hold, the investigation stalled. When the News Record requested records tied to the sexual assault case, Gillette Assistant City Attorney Saige N. Smith denied the request, citing a state law that bars agencies from releasing the names of alleged victims or actors while an investigation remains active unless a judge allows it.
Trooper Alexander Stimson wrote that Rosas-Santaella had been told he was speaking with a task force officer. When asked what would happen if he answered questions, Rosas-Santaella was told that ICE and officers would decide the next steps. He then said he had crossed the southern border with a coyote, or human smuggler.
A domestic battery case ended with ICE custody instead of jail time
Records also show a November 2025 domestic battery case that did not play out through the normal sentencing process. Abrham Perez Eusebio was charged with two counts of domestic battery and unlawful contact after police said he hit his wife and tried to tear off her clothes in front of four children ages 10, nine, three and one.
According to the police report, the couple had been arguing about his use of TikTok to talk with other women. His wife took his phone and hit him in the head until it bled, and he struck her back. Police later found her with a black eye and bruising on her jawline. Perez Eusebio was the one who called 911, and officers arrested him at the scene.
Jail records show he was released to ICE custody 16 days later. Instead of serving a local sentence, he was taken into immigration proceedings.
Wyoming Highway Patrol’s federal immigration role shapes local cases
The biggest share of ICE transfers with attached criminal charges appears to come through the Wyoming Highway Patrol, which is the only statewide agency with a 287(g) Task Force Model agreement. That arrangement allows troopers to enforce federal immigration laws during routine work.
Campbell County Sheriff Scott Matheny said deputies work under a narrower jail enforcement model. Under that setup, deputies can ask about citizenship status only while someone is already in jail. Matheny also said his office will not push lesser charges if doing so could interfere with a larger federal investigation, such as a human trafficking case.
In at least three Campbell County matters, charges were left inactive while immigration or federal investigators looked at broader crimes. Court records show those cases can be revived later if officers locate the suspects again.
A traffic stop tied to suspected human trafficking became a longer ICE hold
One of those cases began in May, when deputies stopped Carlos Velazquez Gonzalez, Marvin Calel-Equila and Ovidio Sut Sut near Force Road and called Wyoming Highway Patrol for help. An affidavit says officers suspected the three men were involved in human trafficking.
The men told officers they were traveling from Las Vegas and chuckled when asked why they had been there. Trooper Stimson later communicated with an ICE agent who said they appeared to be in the country illegally. Records cited a freshly issued temporary driver’s license from Illinois for Velazquez-Gonzalez and new Wisconsin registration on the 2015 Toyota Corolla they were driving.
Velazquez-Gonzalez was arrested on a license violation, while Sut Sut and Calel-Equila ran and were later arrested for interference. Court records list all three cases as inactive, though Sut Sut and Calel-Equila still have active bench warrants.
Some violent cases are still moving through Campbell County court
Not every case has stalled. Campbell County prosecutors are still pursuing at least two violent-crime cases against defendants who are not authorized to be in the United States, and both men remain in the county jail despite ICE detainers.
Jhosep Mejia was arrested for aggravated assault, kidnapping and battery in October 2025. In June, a jury found him guilty of aggravated assault but not guilty of kidnapping. Marlon Velasquez Aguirre was arrested in September 2025 on a charge of sexual exploitation of a child, which carries a possible prison sentence of up to 12 years.
The county attorney’s office declined to discuss how it balances local prosecutions with ICE holds. Christina Williams, a Cheyenne defense attorney, said the competing systems can make investigations harder to manage and can leave prosecutors deciding whether to press ahead or let immigration custody take over.
A previous murder case ended after the victim could not be reached
The News Record also pointed to a November 2024 case involving three men from Mexico — Juan Enrique-Gonzalez, Adrian Gonzalez Oviedo and Adan Oviedo-Rivera — who were accused of plotting to kill their roommate, Luis Enrique Garcia-Jimenez. Deputies found Garcia-Jimenez shivering at the airport with visible injuries after the beating.
Prosecutors charged the three men with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping and aggravated assault and battery. They stayed in jail for about nine months while awaiting trial, but the case was dismissed in summer 2025 after prosecutors could not contact Garcia-Jimenez. ICE had already placed detainers on the defendants, and immigration agents picked them up soon after the dismissal.
Taken together, the records show how a local criminal case can shift into immigration custody before it reaches a courtroom verdict or a sentence.
Local news that matters, from Dulaney Griffin.
