GILLETTE, Wyo. — A 26-year-old man faces multiple charges and citations following an incident that reportedly began the morning of May 19 at Walmart.
Circuit Court Judge Paul Phillips ordered in arraignments this afternoon that the man be held in lieu of a $100K cash or commercial surety bond.
Gillette Police Deputy Chief Brent Wasson said a 24-year-old woman reported at 7:03 a.m. May 19 that the man, who was later identified as Alex Sigvaldsen, approached her at the Walmart in Gillette and told her that she was going to go home with him and that his friends were outside with automatic weapons. He reportedly told her that she would not be killed and that he would let her go after she spent the day with him. The man escorted the woman outside the business and forced her to give him a kiss. He told her to get in the car and drive with him to his residence. The man didn’t force the woman into the vehicle. The woman unlocked the vehicle’s driver’s-side door and fled to the police department, where she made the report.
Campbell County Sheriff Scott Matheny said deputies helped Gillette police find a shoplifting suspect near West Boxelder and South 4-J roads. The suspect, who was later identified as Sigvaldsen, was taking off his sweatshirt and jumping a fence in the backyard of a residence on Tonk Court. Deputies saw and followed him in the south end of the alley. The man took off on foot to the north, in between the building of the Boxelder Center and the alley, and continued to run despite deputies telling him multiple times to stop.
The man replied “F you” after deputies told him to get down on the ground, Matheny said. A deputy caught up to the man, grabbed his left arm and used a leg sweep to take him to the ground. Police arrived and helped detain the suspect.
After handcuffing the suspect, law enforcement requested emergency medical services to come to the area because the man was saying he couldn’t breathe because he might have hit the ground hard, Matheny said.
Sigvaldsen faces kidnapping and felony probation violation/revocation charges and was issued citations for theft, interference with an officer and using/being under influence of drugs, according to the arrest log, as Matheny confirmed.
