Powell man pleads not guilty to wildlife violations

POWELL — A rural Powell resident is facing a stack of criminal charges that allege he committed multiple wildlife-related violations over the past two decades. 

Grant L. Cadwallader, who was born in 1977, is accused of illegally killing two grizzly bears some time ago and illegally collecting grizzly claws, golden and bald eagle talons and feathers and bighorn sheep skulls. 

The Park County Attorney’s Office filed the 18 misdemeanor charges against Cadwallader in late August. He pleaded not guilty to all counts during a Thursday appearance in Park County Circuit Court and was released on his own recognizance. 

State and federal authorities began investigating Cadwallader in 2019; court records indicate their investigation stemmed from a tip provided by Cadwallader’s ex-wife, who reported the years-old allegations amid a custody dispute. 

Authorities executed a search warrant at Cadwallader’s Willwood home on Dec. 20, 2019, and seized eagle feathers and talons, bear claws, bighorn sheep heads with horns and electronic devices. Some of the claws and talons were in a jar, while others were a part of “an ornate necklace,” North Cody Game Warden Travis Crane of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department wrote in an affidavit. 

The items were sent to the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, where staff determined that the talons and feathers came from at least two different eagles and found that some of the claws came from a single grizzly, Crane wrote. The warden’s affidavit indicates that investigators believe Cadwallader obtained the grizzly claws from a bear he’d shot on the North Fork and acquired some of the bighorn sheep heads while working for a private company that helps capture and radio collar wildlife for research purposes. 

Crane and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Bo Stone interviewed Cadwallader more than a year after they raided his home, in February 2021. The interview — which took place in the Powell office of Cadwallader’s then-attorney, Joey Darrah — was reportedly arranged in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, indicating federal authorities had some interest in the case. 

Crane wrote that an assistant U.S. attorney provided Cadwallader with a proffer letter. While the affidavit doesn’t outline any specifics, such letters generally involve prosecutors agreeing to provide more favorable treatment if a defendant provides a full and truthful account of their actions. 

Oftentimes, the information a defendants share during a proffer can’t be used against them, but in this case, state prosecutors are using what Cadwallader said about his encounter with the grizzlies. 

The affidavit says Cadwallader guessed that the incident occurred sometime between 2002 and 2004 in the North Fork area.