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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Man Who Rammed LDS Chapel With Truck Enraged At Church
Billings MT Gazette 14Apr00 D2
By Michael Milstein: Gazette Wyoming Bureau
POWELL, WYOMING -- The man accused of raming his pickup truck into an
LDS Chapel in Powell, Wyoming was dissatisfied with the Church and
said he wanted to form his own church, one that would allow members
to smoke and drink coffee. Kenneth Albert Wiley, 47, has been charged
with nine felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one
felony count of property destruction in the 4:30 p.m. Monday incident.
After he had been escorted from the LDS Chapel on Monday afternoon
for smoking in the building, Wiley, who had repeatedly been asked not
to smoke in the building, became enraged, and "turned around and
threw his hand in the air and stated, 'I declare myself a high priest
of this church.' " He then walked back to his truck, according to an
affidavit quoting Daniel Kelsey filed with the police, got in and
drove up the walkway, "The man then backed up and pointed the truck
straight for the front doors. The man drove slow at first and then
stepped on the gas and sped through the front doors. Everyone in the
foyer ran toward the hallway. Daniel Kelsey and others watched the
man drive through the glass doors, through the foyer, through the
doors into the gymnasium and then into the wall on the other side of
the gymnasium."
Wiley was the only person injured in the incident, and he was treated
for minor cuts and abrasions.
The nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon come from the nine
individuals visible through the front door glass of the chapel when
he rammed the building. The pickup truck is considered the deadly
weapon. Wiley faces up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine for
each of the counts.
The day after the incident, police obtained a letter from Wiley's
wife, Christine, describing his "general dissatisfaction with the
church, as well as his wanting to start a new church that allowed
coffee and cigarettes," according to the affidavit says. The letter
had been written to acquaintance Greg Clark of Powell, who provided
the letter to police.
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