Gabriel Testerman is seen in a picture provided by the Laramie County Sheriff's Office. Testerman is a sergeant with the Wyoming Highway Patrol, but has been on administrative leave since May 2 pending a Laramie County criminal investigation, according to WHP. He was arrested Aug. 30.
CHEYENNE - Prosecutors from the Sweetwater County and Prosecuting Attorney's Office will handle a criminal case against a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper.
County and Prosecuting Attorney Daniel E. Erramouspe and his office have been appointed in the case, Erramouspe confirmed Friday.
He declined to answer questions about why his office had been tasked with prosecuting the case.
"I can't give any details at this time, not even on that," Erramouspe said Friday by phone.
Sgt. Gabriel Testerman was arrested Tuesday by the Laramie County Sheriff's Office, according to a Highway Patrol news release. The WHP apparently learned about a pending Cheyenne Police Department investigation involving Testerman on May 2, and he has been on administrative leave since then, the Highway Patrol said.
A Laramie County jail official said Thursday that Testerman had bonded out of jail following a Wednesday initial appearance. His bond had been set at 10% of $100,000, the official said.
Law enforcement agencies and court staff have so far declined to provide the Wyoming Tribune Eagle with the specific charges on which Testerman was arrested.
No public documents had been filed in the case as of late Friday afternoon, according to a WTE records search.
In citing a specific Wyoming statute, a law enforcement official may have provided some information about the nature of the charges. On Wednesday, CPD Sgt. Kevin Malatesta pointed to statute 6-2- 319(a), which prohibits a public employee from releasing information about an alleged perpetrator before charges are filed in district court.
Statute 6-2-319 applies to charges of sexual assault, sexual battery, sexual assault of a minor and soliciting.
Malatesta said at the time that he wasn't sure why Testerman's name was included in the Highway Patrol news release, but that "it was probably an attempt for transparency."
Erramouspe confirmed that a preliminary hearing for Testerman is set for Wednesday, Sept. 7 in Laramie County Circuit Court, when a judge would decide whether to bind the charges over to district court. At this point, the charges – and likely more details about the case – would become public.
Erramouspe declined to give the time of the hearing, directing a reporter to ask the court.
"There's some things that were released on this case that should not have been released, and I don't think it's the court that did it. The law doesn't allow for public officials to release names and stuff like that, so I'm reluctant to give that information," the prosecutor said Friday.
Laramie County Circuit Court staff told the WTE on two separate occasions Thursday that they "don't have any information about that case," and later that they weren't giving out any information about the case.
"If the court's not willing to release that public information, I'm unwilling to do so, as well," Erramouspe said. "That's not my job to make sure that the public is aware of when court settings are, and this is a difficult case, so I'm not interested in leaving the bounds of my prescribed duties at this point."
On Friday afternoon, CPD spokesperson Alex Farkas sent out a news release making clear that the agency supports keeping details private for now.
"Due to the nature of the charges, the Wyoming state statute that applies to this case limits the information that can be disclosed, even though an arrest has been made," the release said. "According to the statute, a public employee is prohibited from releasing information about an alleged perpetrator or victim prior to charges being filed in district court."
"We are investigating this case just as we would any other," Police Chief Mark Francisco said in the release. "The fact that this person is a law enforcement officer does not give them preferential treatment. We will continue to conduct this investigation in an unbiased and professional manner."
Both of these statements echo information given to the WTE earlier this week by Malatesta.
Farkas said in the release that the case "remains under investigation by the Cheyenne Police Department Detective Bureau."
"Regarding all other cases, (CPD) supports the standard of not releasing the names of suspects until the prosecuting attorney has formally filed charges, or an arrest has been made," the news release continued. "According to the city attorney's office, before a crime is charged, a prosecutor could reject the charging documents, or decline to charge the suspect depending on their prosecutorial discretion. However, after charges are filed, the documents are a public record available through the court."
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