A shelf, a light, a secret room, guns and drugs, Evansville man arrested

CASPER, Wyo. — An Evansville man on state and federal probation was betrayed in April by a light shining through a crack in a bookcase hiding a secret room full of contraband.

Today, Stephen Clifford Swingle, 45, faces a federal charge of possession of two silencers and probation revocations in federal and state courts.

Last year, Swingle was convicted in state district court for possession of methamphetamine and in federal court for two counts of destruction of government property in 2022 at two Muddy Mountain campgrounds in damaging camping tubes.

In state court, he received a one-year suspended sentence and one year of supervised probation.

In federal court, U.S. District Court Alan Johnson placed Swingle on probation for three years and ordered him to pay $5,839.50 in restitution for the misdemeanor counts of destruction of property.

But he repeatedly violated the terms of his probation, according to a WYoming Department of Corrections report.

Swingle often failed to attend scheduled meetings with state probation and submitted urine samples that tested positive for state probation but negative for federal probation, raising questions about whether he was he had falsified these samples.

State and federal probation officers also were concerned that Swingle possessed firearms, which were prohibited because of his drug addiction and the conditions of his federal probation, according to the department.

On April 12, state and federal probation officers and Evansville police officers searched Swingle’s home on Park Lane.

Law enforcement had searched the house several times, but this time they found something they hadn’t noticed before and hadn’t been mentioned by Swingle or his family.

The front part of the house had a hidden room blocked by a shelf that served as a makeshift door.

But the secret has been betrayed.

“Officers were able to locate the room by an illuminated light shining through the slot in the shelf,” according to the Department of Corrections report.

“Inside the room, Agens found several firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, at least two homemade suppressors and several methamphetamine pipes.”

Elsewhere in the house, officers found a glass pipe containing marijuana.

“Next to Mr. Swingle’s bed, on his nightstand, officers also found a bottle of fake urine fitted with two hand warmers with a blue latex glove wrapped around the bottle with a rubber band,” according to the report.

They found several small bottles of alcohol in a cupboard and one open in the living room.

Officers conducted a urine test on Swingle and it tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine.

In light of the results of the home search, the Department of Corrections recommended that Swingle be returned to court for revocation of his probation and to serve his underlying sentences.

On May 16, the federal grand jury returned the indictment charging him with a black silencer and a silver silencer, not recorded in the National Firearms Registry and transfer records.

If convicted, he faces forfeiture of the silencers, up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised probation after his release and a fine of up to $250,000.

On Thursday, Swingle appeared in federal court for his first appearance in Cheyenne before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman, who advised him of his rights and possible penalties.

Carman also scheduled Swingle for a May 29 detention hearing.

The U.S. attorney in Wyoming filed a motion asking the court to detain him because he is charged with a gun crime and poses a risk to the community.

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