Feds: Former Wyoming trooper planned truckers murder
Something about this story is just weird. At first I thought maybe he was targeting the trucker because he knew him and perhaps the trucker had, had an affair with the trooper's wife, sister, or daughter. Then I read it again and it seems his hate was just for Walmart
. . . which is understandable given how poorly they treat their employees; but it's still way out of line.
*SNIP*CHEYENNE, Wyo. Federal authorities say a former Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper pulled over a Wal-Mart truck in January and took the driver into custody as part of an aborted plan to kill him and crash the truck into his patrol car to collect damages from the company. Franklin Ryle, 41, pleaded not guilty Tuesday in federal court to charges alleging he violated the drivers civil rights by kidnapping him, carried a firearm in the process of committing a crime and tried to persuade another trooper to help him. Ryle is no longer working as a state trooper. His attorney, David Weiss, declined to comment after the hearing. In a previously sealed affidavit, FBI agent Richard P. Fanelli said Ryle stopped a Wal-Mart truck on Jan. 8 near Douglas, handcuffed the driver and told him he was under arrest on a Colorado warrant of failing to appear in court. Douglas is 115 miles northwest of Cheyenne. According to Fanelli, the driver told investigators Ryle drove him to Douglas, parked the patrol car outside a house and left him locked in the back seat. Ryle then took the driver back to his truck and released him. The affidavit said Ryle told investigators that he had driven to his home with the truck driver because he had a sick child. Ryle said he released the driver after checking with dispatchers a second time about any outstanding warrants and learning that there was none.
*SNIP*However, the affidavit stated that investigators checked national computer records and found that there never had been an initial report of a warrant against the driver that evening to justify his arrest. Authorities began investigating on Jan. 14 after Ryles wife told her brother, a member of the Casper Police Department, about the alleged scheme. She said her husband told her that if she helped him stage the accident, he would not ever have to work again, the affidavit stated. Col. Sam Powell, highway patrol administrator, said Ryle was no longer employed as of Tuesday. He declined to say if Ryle was fired or resigned.
Something about this story is just weird. At first I thought maybe he was targeting the trucker because he knew him and perhaps the trucker had, had an affair with the trooper's wife, sister, or daughter. Then I read it again and it seems his hate was just for Walmart