Albany County sheriff questions his GOP challenger’s presence at meeting with FBI Director Kash Patel

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak invited Daron Wyatt, a reserve deputy for his office and the Republican candidate for Albany County sheriff, to a Laramie meeting featuring FBI Director Kash Patel. Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans, Wyatt’s Democratic opponent, called the candidate’s presence “a little out of place.” 

The FBI organized the Wednesday meeting at the University of Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium, billing it as a capabilities briefing in the morning and a “special fireside chat” in the afternoon with Patel, FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Amanda Koldjeski, U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith and Wyoming’s U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, according to the meeting invitation. The fireside chat was “an opportunity for open dialogue on priorities, challenges, and future collaboration,” the invitation states. 

It’s unclear what brought Patel to the meeting, or why it was held in Laramie. An FBI spokesperson didn’t respond to WyoFile’s specific inquiries, instead referring to statements posted on X by Patel and FBI Denver. Roundtable discussions like the one held Wednesday aren’t unusual at national conferences, but this one was “fairly unique” because of the location, Appelhans said. 

Patel’s presence in Wyoming follows a U.S. Department of Justice and FBI initiative called Operation Steadfast Promise, which aimed to address violent crime specifically in tribal communities across the country. As part of the national campaign, which occurred from April through September, the FBI assigned an additional 15 agents to Lander.

While the FBI initially extended meeting invitations in early October only to the first and second in command of each Wyoming law enforcement agency, the agency later opened the invitation to all Wyoming law enforcement personnel, according to emails shared by Appelhans. The gathering was closed to the general public — an FBI agent turned away a photographer for the Branding Iron, which first reported on the event, when he entered the stadium’s public lobby. 

Wyatt, a cop who retired from full-time policing in California over six years ago, attended the meeting in his capacity as a reserve deputy for the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office. Kozak said in a call to WyoFile that he brought Wyatt on as a reserve deputy about six months ago. “He’s been volunteering in the jail, working in the pods just to learn our procedures here,” Kozak said. 

Wyatt isn’t paid in his role as a reserve deputy, according to the sheriff. 

Kozak, who donated $75 to Wyatt’s candidate committee, invited the candidate to the FBI meeting for the capabilities briefing. “He invited me so that I could hear the briefing, so that in the event that I am elected, I would have the information,” Wyatt said in a call to WyoFile. “I don’t know when they will come and do another briefing like that.” 

Wyatt said he had also hoped to network at the event “so that if something ever happens, there’s already a face to the name and a name with a telephone number.”

Appelhans, the Albany County sheriff since 2020, said in a call to WyoFile that he felt Wyatt’s attendance was “a little out of place” and noted that, according to his observation, no other reserve deputies from other agencies attended the event, which primarily hosted “higher-level law enforcement administrators and executives.” 

The Albany County sheriff pointed to Wyatt’s post to his campaign Facebook page thanking Kozak for inviting him to the event. “I think that kind of speaks for itself,” Appelhans said. When asked to clarify what he meant, the sheriff said it highlights an agency outside of Albany County “trying to kind of put their 2 cents in and dip their fingers in some of the local politics that we have here in Albany County.” 

In addition to thanking Kozak for the invite, the post includes a number of hashtags related to the election and photos of Wyatt with Kozak and Patel.

The race between Appelhans and Wyatt has been heated, with each throwing barbs primarily over jail deaths and use of force. The election is Tuesday.

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