FBI Director Attends Meeting in Laramie

Conversations with Wyoming law enforcement focused on integrating new technologies. 

Photo by Luke Melinkovich

FBI Director Kash Patel met with statewide law enforcement officers and at least one congresswoman on Oct. 28 at the University of Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium. 

The Branding Iron arrived at the stadium and confirmed not only Patel’s presence, but that of Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman.  

“The regional FBI office [and] local FBI representatives wanted to get law enforcement together to talk about cooperation and capabilities of their offices,” Sheriff Aaron Appelhans said. 

Furthermore, Appelhans said “in the afternoon, there was a short round-table discussion with the FBI Director Kash Patel, and congresswoman Harriet Hageman about issues at [the] federal level, and how that affects Wyoming.”  

They discussed “new and emerging technologies,” Appelhans said. The meeting had “discussions about drones, systems, [and] using technology to fight white collar-crime, mail fraud, [and] wire fraud.” 

Another officer at the Albany County Sheriff’s Office further corroborated this story, when they stated that Patel’s meeting was to showcase some “new technology” to other government and law enforcement officials. 

After Luke Melinkovich, the Branding Iron’s on-scene photographer, entered the stadium’s public lobby, he was approached by an FBI agent asking how Melinkovich knew about the event.  

He was told that the meeting was not a public event and was asked to leave the lobby. 

UW President Shane Reeves’ office said that the FBI had requested to use War Memorial to host a meeting but hadn’t specified what the meeting entailed, or who would be in attendance. 

The office said the university was not involved and had no knowledge of the event’s purpose. 

A UW police department officer said the UW Police Chief and Assistant Chief were invited to the meeting with lower officers being excluded. 

Just before Patel arrived at the meeting, a plane landed in Laramie that had departed from Joint Base Andrews in D.C.  

The plane left Laramie at 4:21 p.m. MT and flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where it landed at 6:24 pm CDT. They departed from Sioux Falls at 8:05 CDT and flew to Seattle. 

Additionally, officers at sheriff’s offices in Sioux Falls’ Lincoln and Minehaha counties both stated they knew nothing about Patel’s visiting the city.  

Follow continued coverage of this event on uwbrandingiron.com, The Branding Iron’s online publication. 

As of time of publication, this is an unofficial list of confirmed officials at War Memorial Stadium on Oct. 28: FBI Director Kash Patel, Wyoming Congressperson Harriet Hageman, Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans, Converse County Sheriff Clint Becker, Laramie Public Safety Chief Brian Browne, US Attorney of the District of Wyoming Darin Smith.