U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith touted an enforcement surge on the Wind River Reservation, including three defendants who were reindicted after judges found misconduct by the initial federal prosecutor may have prejudiced jurors. The surge was part of an FBI and U.S. Department of Justice initiative called Operation Steadfast Promise, which aimed to address violent crime in tribal communities across the country. The FBI assigned an additional 15 agents to Lander, who rotated through on one-month stints, according to FBI Denver Public Affairs Officer Vikki Migoya.
The surge, which occurred from April through September, included an increase in meth dealings across the state, Smith said at a September press conference. “We’ve declared war at the Justice Department on drugs, and we’re committed to stamping that to the best that we can, and that’s like whack-a-mole, right? You whack them all down, and he pops up over here,” Smith said.
Following the surge, Smith’s office filed federal charges against 18 people for various violent crimes, including murder, assault, sexual abuse, and drug distribution. FBI special agent Amanda Koldjeski briefed reporters about the surge in federal law enforcement presence on the Wind River Indian Reservation at a Sept. 2, 2026 press conference in Lander.
“Because we had extra hands, we were able to investigate more quickly and get the cases to the prosecutors more quickly,” Migoya said at the press conference. “So while these may have been spread out over a longer period if we didn’t have the extra resources, we were able to get them done in a really timely fashion with that extra help.” It’s not clear how many federal charges prosecutors typically file in such a time frame.
Of the 18 people Smith and the FBI cited at the press conference, 17 have been indicted, or formally accused of committing a crime by a grand jury, court records show. Another admitted guilt. “From doing the crime to doing the time, no district does a swifter job and more efficient job in the country of administering justice,” Smith said at the September press conference.
However, according to a list of the 18 people provided by the FBI, three individuals – Dennison Antelope, Brian Johnson, and Jose Ocon – were among a group of defendants that had to be reindicted after judges tossed their charges, citing misconduct by Smith that could have prejudiced the jurors. Antelope, Johnson, and Ocon were initially indicted in March before the FBI surge, court records show. They were reindicted in May.
Defense attorneys accused Smith, who at the time was the interim U.S. attorney, of improperly telling the grand jury the defendants were “bad guys,” stating they were “murderers” and that deliberations “won’t take long.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming undertook a review of Smith, resulting in further disclosures about Smith’s interactions with grand jurors, including that he asked for the list of grand jury members and passed out business cards to them. Prosecutors are not permitted to have private communications with grand jurors.
The court empaneled a new grand jury after dismissing the initial indictments. The new jurors reindicted the group of defendants, including Antelope, Johnson, and Ocon. The misconduct findings didn’t stall Smith’s U.S. Senate confirmation for Wyoming U.S. attorney in May. The episode sharpened tribal concerns over trust and federal prosecution on the reservation, and the Northern Arapaho and the Eastern Shoshone tribes.
