Trespassers cited at Kanye West’s ranch

CJ Baker Powell Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange
Posted 6/23/20

POWELL — In unrelated incidents, a pair of young men were caught trespassing on Kanye West’s Cody area ranch in recent weeks.

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Trespassers cited at Kanye West’s ranch

Posted

POWELL — In unrelated incidents, a pair of young men were caught trespassing on Kanye West’s Cody area ranch in recent weeks.

Park County authorities filed misdemeanor criminal trespassing charges against the two, though one of the cases — against a 22-year-old Denver man — is set to be dismissed because of concerns about the defendant’s competency.

Drew C. Togher, a 22-year-old delivery driver, reportedly traveled from his residence in Denver to West Lake Ranch this month.

“I was going to see if I could meet Kanye West,” Togher explained in court last week.

He passed multiple no trespassing signs before being stopped by security personnel early on the morning of Sunday, June 14. After spending roughly a half-hour trying to get Togher to leave, the security officers called the Park County Sheriff’s Office at around 6:15 a.m., charging documents say.

When Deputy Ethan Robinson arrived on scene, he found Togher acting “agitated and impatient.”

“I asked Drew if I let him go with a citation if he would come back, and he responded impatiently while looking around that he would not,” Robinson said. However, believing that Togher would “likely return to the property and create more issues,” the deputy arrested him.

When Togher appeared in Park County Circuit Court the following day, he seemed confused about the proceedings and asked for several of the advisements to be repeated multiple times and spoken more slowly.

When Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters asked Togher if he had a mental disability, the defendant said that “I hear stuff” and described it as being like a “pirate’s curse.”

Togher sought to plead guilty to the misdemeanor trespassing charge, but Judge Waters entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and appointed an attorney for him over concerns about his competency.

Deputy Park County Attorney Jack Hatfield recommended that Togher be released on a signature bond — citing in part a lack of any past criminal charges — with strict orders to stay away from West, his family and West Lake Ranch.

Judge Waters warned Togher that he could have no contact “in any way shape or form with Kanye West, or any member of his family, including extended family members.”

“So no contact directly or indirectly, no attempts to text him, email him, contact him through social media,” Judge Waters advised Togher. “There’s to be no contact with them in any way shape or form, any of them, do you understand me?”

“Same go for him?” asked Togher, referring to West.

“No, this applies to you,” Waters said. “You are not to have contact with him for any reason.”

Togher then asked what would happen if the musician and entrepreneur contacted or messaged him.

“Yeah, I think that’s a long shot; I don’t know,” the judge responded. However, “if he contacts you, you are not allowed to speak with him, talk to him, have anything to do with him. Do you understand that?”

Togher said he did, but he soon asked the judge to go over the bond conditions again.

“I can’t think about the guy at all?” Togher asked at one point, also asking for the definition of “indirect” contact, followed by questions about, “What if I get, like, a signal?” and finally, “what if they’re [messing] with me?”

Judge Waters ultimately decided he would not be releasing Togher on a signature bond and instead set bond at $5,000 cash and ordered a mental evaluation.

“I am concerned for your mental wellbeing. … I have doubts about your ability to comply with bond conditions,” Judge Waters told the defendant.

Togher spent the rest of the week in jail, but was later released to his mother, who traveled from Pennsylvania to Cody to pick up her son and take him home, Hatfield said. The prosecutor said he plans to dismiss the case without prejudice, “and charge [Togher] again if he comes back to Mr. West’s place.”

“Hopefully,” Hatfield said, “he’ll just stay away.”

Meanwhile, the prosecutor is continuing to pursue a Powell man, 19-year-old Henry Waters, who was reportedly caught on West’s property back on May 19. In that instance, Henry Waters was stopped by security personnel, who reportedly noted that his pants were down.

“He admitted that he was masturbating there on Mr. West’s property,” Hatfield said during a Friday court hearing.

In a follow-up interview, Hatfield said that, according to the account given to the sheriff’s office, the defendant said he had simply been looking for a place to pull over.

“He [defendant Waters] stated he did not know he was on private property or who lived there, but they must be very important” given the security personnel, Deputy Robinson reportedly wrote. However, Hatfield said the defendant had passed a half-dozen no trespassing signs.

Defendant Waters pleaded not guilty to criminal trespassing on Friday and was released on a signature bond pending further proceedings.

Among other bond conditions, “do not have any contact in any way shape or form with one Kanye West or any member of the West family,” Judge Waters, no relation, advised the defendant, adding, “you are not to be on the property, on the driveway, on the entrance or within the boundaries of that property in any way shape or form.”

Defendant Waters said he understood.

A trial is tentatively set for Aug. 13.