Former Casper Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Felony Child Abuse, Child Endangerment
Laura Starnes-Wells, a Casper Police Officer who was accused of felony child abuse, has changed her plea to “guilty” in the case, as part of a plea deal.
Starnes-Wells plead guilty to one felony charge of Reckless Infliction of Mental Injuries, in regards to Starnes-Wells’ teenaged son. She also plead guilty to Child Endangerment, in regards to a teenage daughter.
As part of the plea deal, Starnes-Wells faces 1-5 years supervised probation. The felony charge in the case is being looked at under Wyoming first offender statute, 7-13-301, which would allow Starnes-Wells to be found guilt, but not convicted, and being placed on probation.
“301” or “first offender” status allows the court to place a person on 1 to 5 years of supervised probation, at which time if the court finds the probation to be violated, the court can revisit the felony charge and the full penalty. If the probation is successfully completed to the court’s satisfaction, the original charge may be dismissed.
Sheriff’s officials say in an affidavit, that Laura Wells, aka Laura Starnes-Wells, and two children over whom she had custody, had moved in with with Todd Wells in 2006.
An investigation was undertaken in May of 2016, after allegations were made by Natrona County School District Staff that Laura Starnes-Wells might be abusing a teenage child.
Several sources say that both a teenage male and a teenage female in the home were subjected to harsh punishments for minor transgressions. Some allegations saying that one of the teens had to write out thousands of sentences, over the course of days, without leaving their room. Other allegations of punishment involve “running hills,” which entailed running up a 250-yard hill from top-to-bottom. One teenager alleging they had run 146 “hills” over the course of two weeks.
Other allegations involve physical abuse of the children. In one instance victims claimed that an argument between Starnes-Wells and one of the teenagers became physical, with Starnes-Wells said to have slapped the teen repeatedly. The victim going on to say that slapping by Starnes-Wells has occurred their whole life.
Other allegations include Starnes-Wells putting an alarm on the door of one of the teen’s bedrooms, so the teen could not leave the room at night.
An official sentence will be handed down at a later date.