CHEYENNE,Wyo.— Over the course of a year, Cheyenne Police Department Detectives
worked a case that started as a local call for service and ended up with a federal prosecution. The
following just highlights some of the hard work and dedication put forth by Detectives in this
case.
On August 8, 2019, Sprint contacted CPD regarding phones purchased fraudulently and shipped
to various Cheyenne addresses. On August 12, 2019, a package from Sprint was shipped to a
Cheyenne residence and delivered. A surveillance team was set up to watch the house. The
suspect, Tracy Reighard, arrived at the residence and picked up the packages in view of
Detectives. Reighard was detained and the package was seized.
During the interview, Reighard stated he was involved in receiving and shipping phones to an
address in Accra, Ghana for his “fiancé, Joyce”. It was also learned that Reighard was using his
two local credit unions to wire money to illegitimate front companies on the east coast and
overseas.
In addition, there have been several dozen, possibly hundreds of victims of identity theft in
Cheyenne during the same time. The majority of those had fraudulent Sprint accounts opened in
their names. The loss to Sprint was so severe during this time that Sprint would no longer ship
phones to Cheyenne. The total dollar loss to Sprint and Cheyenne-area victims was so significant
that an exact dollar amount could not be determined but is estimated to be $750,000.
With the assistance of the local FBI office, the investigation continued, and charges were
recommended to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming. Reighard pled to a
charge of Wire Fraud and was sentenced to six months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons,
followed by three years of supervised probation, in addition to paying $2,000.00 restitution and a
$100.00 restitution fee.
