SWEETWATER COUNTY — Rock Springs resident James “Jim” Verlin Johnson pleaded not guilty to two felony counts for his alleged involvement in the theft of Cannon Oil and Gas (CO&G) equipment.

Johnson appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery Thursday morning for an arraignment to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit theft, and one felony charge of crimes against computer users. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine. If found guilty for both counts, Johnson could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or a maximum fine of $20,000. A trial date has been scheduled for December 11 at 9 a.m.

According to court documents, the charges stem from incidents occurring between October 15, 2021, and April 7, 2022, in which Johnson, Allen Meredith and David Jay Mansfield allegedly conspired to commit theft of thousands of dollars of oilfield equipment from their former employer CO&G. Johnson and Mansfield were both operations managers for CO&G, while Meredith was general manager for over 39 years.

Meredith’s arraignment took place May 19, in which he pleaded not guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit theft, one felony charge of theft, one felony charge of crimes against computer users, and one felony charge of crimes against intellectual property. Mansfield’s arraignment has not yet taken place.

The Situation

On March 28, 2022, Andrea Wilkinson, CO&G General Manager, was informed by office personnel that Meredith resigned from CO&G on March 26, according to the affidavit. Johnson and Mansfield both quit their jobs with CO&G in the following week after Meredith’s resignation. It was later discovered that Meredith was allegedly starting his own company called Mountain West Energy Services (MWES), along with both Johnson and Mansfield.

According to the affidavit, Meredith, Johnson, and Mansfield held a meeting on March 27, 2022, at the MWES property located at 102 Foothill Blvd., in which they allegedly tried to recruit CO&G employees to join MWES. Between 15 to 20 employees allegedly quit to join Meredith’s new business. According to the affidavit, Meredith was considering purchasing CO&G after the passing of former owner Richard Canon. Wilkinson said Meredith had allegedly signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement with CO&G, stating he would not target CO&G employees or its customers.

Court documents state Wilkinson said it appeared CO&G was missing approximately $75,000 worth of equipment, including missing pipe tongs, pipe racks, drill line, blow out prevention supplies, and bales. Wilkinson reported that some of the employees who attended the meeting on March 27 said they saw equipment on Meredith’s property that was similar to CO&G’s missing items.

During the investigation, Meredith allegedly admitted that neither Wilkinson or Elaine Canon, part owner of CO&G, knew he had moved pipe bins found on his property from CO&G property at Wamsutter. The affidavit states Johnson was one of four key holders who had access to the storage buildings where the items were allegedly taken from.

Meredith allegedly admitted to detectives that he had CO&G equipment and personal property that belonged to Richard Canon on MWES property without CO&G’s knowledge, and that he had the equipment transported in March of 2022.

According to the affidavit, Mansfield had allegedly turned off the GPS tracking ability on the CO&G trucks, and the trucks were allegedly seen hauling equipment to MWES’ shop after they could not be tracked. CO&G was not working in the field, but was allegedly using thousands of gallons of fuel. The request to turn off tracking was allegedly made on February 28, 2022. The affidavit states that Meredith allegedly told investigators he had been building his business since February of 2022, which is the same time frame as when the GPS was allegedly turned off.

Johnson’s Alleged Involvement

Around the same time frame as the GPS tracking was allegedly turned off, Talbert D. Bowen III, CO&G wench truck driver, reported he had transported pipe bins from the CO&G property in Wamsutter to the CO&G property in Farson allegedly under Johnson’s direction. Bowen said he keeps handwritten notes of what he does during his workday, and his notes for February 11 and 28, 2022, and March 2, 2022 allegedly indicate he hauled different equipment from the Wamsutter property to Farson.

According to the affidavit, Bowen told investigators that “when he transported the pipe bins from Wamsutter to Farson, there was a different amount of pipe”. He also stated that when he hauled two pipe bins that were seized from a search warrant from Meredith’s yard back to CO&G, he noticed there was allegedly more pipe than he remembered being in the pipe bins when he unloaded them at the Farson yard the first time.

Johnson was also allegedly seen by Diego Rosales, CO&G shop supervisor, at a gas station in Maybell, Colorado, on March 25, 2022, in his CO&G truck with a CO&G gooseneck trailer and two sets of pipe racks on the trailer. Rosales said he had not seen Johnson in a while so he asked Johnson what he was doing, and Johnson appeared “skittish”, the affidavit states.

Johnson allegedly told Rosales he was driving back to Rock Springs from the Cannon’s farm near Maybell. The affidavit notes that March 25, 2022 is the same date Meredith indicated he purchased some equipment, including pipe racks, from Hud’s Wholesale Inc. in Colorado.

On April 2, 2022, Meredith sent two invoices from Hud’s Wholesale Inc. to detectives listing out miscellaneous oilfield equipment he purchased. Ricky Alvarado, co-owner of Hud’s Wholesale Inc., told detectives he had created the first invoice for the purchase of equipment, however he could not locate the second invoice. He recalled the purchase was done through a cash sale. 

Alvarado said it was possible the second invoice was voided and the first invoice was created after Meredith added more items to his purchase. However, Alvarado said he was “uncomfortable with the situation” because the description of items in the second invoice did not seem correct. 

When Rosales returned to work on March 28, he reported that he did not see the pipe racks Johnson was allegedly towing in Colorado. The affidavit notes that when Johnson was allegedly seen in Colorado, he, Meredith, and Mansfield were all still employed by CO&G.

Additionally, Johnson is being charged with alleged crimes against computer users. This charge stems from detectives being unable to view information on Johnson’s company laptop due to the hard drive allegedly being Bitlocker Encrypted. CO&G’s Information Technology (IT) person, Jimmy Moore with Moore Technology, told detectives he does not use Bitlocker Encryption on anything, as it would lock out users without administrative access.

For more details on this case and the alleged charges, see SweetwaterNOW’s previous coverage.

Judge Lavery said Johnson is not to have any direct or indirect contact with a list of people who have acted as witnesses in this case. Additionally, per his bond, he is not to leave the state of Wyoming except for work-related purposes. Johnson’s attorney Joe Hampton notified Judge Lavery that Johnson will be in Alaska for work-related purposes from October 25 to November 15.