'Scorched earth' surge against crime included 90+ agents
LANDER — At a press conference Friday, they took no questions. But Assistant Special Agent in charge of the Denver Federal Bureau of Investigations Field Office Tyler McCurdy handed down a promise: "We're coming for you."
At the press conference, FBI and local law enforcement officials, along with newly appointed Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming Darin Smith, shared information on a surge of law enforcement activity last week that included 90 FBI personnel to the Wind River Reservation.
McCurdy said the agents executed 12 federal search warrants, one federal arrest and three local arrests as part of the operation.
The personnel were part of the FBI's Rocky Mountain Safe Trails Task Force, which targets drug trafficking activity on and around the reservation.
It includes the FBI, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, Wyoming Highway Patrol, and local law enforcement collaborating to investigate crimes that often cross the boundaries of the reservation, along with police jurisdiction.
The surge was part of President Donald Trump's Operation Take Back America, which includes a list of objectives aimed at battling violent crime and drug smuggling.
McCurdy noted a recent string of arrests made in the trafficking of methamphetamine to the reservation, including the arrest of two people in the country illegally from Mexico. He said drug trafficking leads to violence that plague local communities.
"These drug crimes lead to a cycle of violence that we want to break," he said. To the community: "We're fighting for you."
"We are going scorched earth on criminal activity on the reservation and across Wyoming," Smith explained. "There should be no doubt in your mind that if you are pedaling poison to Wyoming's communities, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law."
According to the U.S. Attorney General's office, Operation Take Back America includes the following priorities: "repelling the invasion of illegal immigration;" "achieving total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations;" "establishing Homeland Security task forces;" "charging the most serious, readily provable offense[s];" and "restoring the death penalty."
This story was published on Sept. 3, 2025.