Mayor Fabian: "We are not waiting to take action, and have already begun taking measures to remedy the situation," March 16, 2016 Record Times Article on Water Contamination.

What: Water sampling since 2014 has shown Town of Wheatland drinking water to be contaminated with the heavy metal Uranium above Federal standards. Uranium(U-92) is the heaviest naturally occuring metal, is toxic (Wiki) like Lead(Pb-82) and poses health risks (see Town's letter). NOTE: Uranium(U-92) decays to become Radium(Ra-88) which decays to become Radon(Rn-86). (PTE) Where Uranium contamination is found, Radium and Radon contamination could also be found.

Why/How: The Town of Wheatland offers no explanation as to how contamination occured. One possible explanation is that nitrates from highly concentrated animal wastes and/or agriculture have reached a high enough concentration in the ground water to break bonds binding Uranium to auquifer rock. Another would be the use of injection wells within the county. Given that more than a year has passed since testing showed Violations (See Town letter), the source should now be known? A question asked across the country.

Risk: Tap water should not be used by Pregnant Women, Infants, the Elderly or anyone with a compromised immune system, See Town Letter (Cancer, Crohns, Diabetes, Lupis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, HIV, etc.). Health risks most mentioned are kidney damage/failure and cancer. Research teams at Tufts and the University of New Mexico also link long-term exposure to signs of reproductive and genetic damage, among other problems. Talk to your Doctor. NOTE: Scientists said the standard should be 20 micrograms/Liter. EPA set the current standard at 30 micrograms/Liter due to concerns about cost of compliance.

Questions: More information can be found by googling for University of Nebraska studies, various Enviromental Protection Agancy (EPA) white papers concerning Uranium and Nitrate contamination in ground water. Also:

1. If the Wheatland Town wells are producing water contaminated with Uranium, what about other wells in Platte County?
See EPA quote in Record Times Article

2. What about bathing in contaminated water?
See Town Letter

3. Will property values decline if the water system continues to show contamination?
Speculation

4. Is the Town going to build a water treatment plant to protect our children and elderly?
No Information yet on "Remedy" implemented.

5. Just how is the Town treating the water to remove heavy metal contaminants?
No information available

6. Are all water test results available to the public at Town Hall?
Public Record Law Requires Such

7. Are the vegetables in my garden contaminated?
See Town Letter and quotes in Record Times Article

8. Does boiling water remove Uranium?
No - See Town Letter

9. Does adding Chlorine remove Uranium?
No - See Town Letter

10. Is there a radiation danger from the Uranium?
No - See Town Letter

11. Is there a toxicity danger from the Uranium?
See Town Letter

12. Will a Reverse Osmosis Filter or Water Distilation remove heavy metals?
Center for Disease Control (CDC) says Yes Website

13. Will a water softener remove heavy metals?
Only if designed to do so - See CDC website

WS 6-3-402. Theft; penalties.
(c) Theft is: (i) A felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00), or both, if the value of the property is one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) or more;...

So if an employee and management devise a scheme to fraudulently claim over-time on timesheets to illegally boost the employee's pay, all involved should be prosecuted for committing a felony under Wyoming law? Conspiracy?

How would evidence of this be found? Easily done, payroll reports will show the repetitive pattern of high over-time payments to the employee.

6-1-201. Accessory before the fact.
(a) A person who knowingly aids or abets in the commission of a felony, or who counsels, encourages, hires, commands or procures a felony to be committed, is an accessory before the fact. (b) An accessory before the fact: (i) May be indicted, informed against, tried and convicted as if he were a principal; (ii) May be indicted, informed against, tried and convicted either before or after and whether or not the principal offender is indicted, informed against, tried or convicted; and (iii) Upon conviction, is subject to the same punishment and penalties as are prescribed by law for the punishment of the principal.

In November 2013, the top management offical and the employee's direct supervisor discussed it was unfair the pay setting authority had determined the employee's position did not justify a salary as much as other more demanding positions.

In February 2014, the top management official at that time smiled and said the employee was making over $90,000.00 a year. From published salary figures it becomes obvious the management official knew the employee was receiving tens of thousands of dollars in over-time.

In August of 2014, the employee's direct supervisor gave a reason for the tens of thousands of dollars of overtime paid the employee that set off the BS detector. It will be interesting to see if the pay setting/oversite authority and current top management official receive the same BS reason for paying tens of thousands of dollars in overtime to this employee.

WS 6-1-303 Conspiracy
(a) A person is guilty of conspiracy to commit a crime if he agrees with one (1) or more persons that they or one (1) or more of them will commit a crime and one (1) or more of them does an overt act to effect the objective of the agreement.

So it appears the prior top management official and employee's direct supervisor entered into a conspiracy allowing the employee to collect tens of thousands of dollars in over-time payments and can be prosecuted for felony theft and conspiracy just as if they had stolen the money themselves.

Another dimension to these crimes is that in the future, the retirement payer will have to pay out a higher monthly retirement amount due to this fraud.

Will current management allow this fraud to continue?

Stay tuned. Many more revelations to come.

FBI: "It's our top priority among criminal investigations and for good reason. Public corruption poses a fundamental threat to our national security and way of life. It impacts everything from how well our borders are secured and our neighborhoods protected to verdicts handed down in courts to the quality of our roads, schools, and other government services. And it takes a significant toll on our pocketbooks, wasting billions in tax dollars every year."

"The FBI is singularly situated to combat this corruption, with the skills and capabilities to run complex undercover operations and surveillance." FBI Website

Submit corruption tip on-line to FBI