Makala Butz

Ashton Wollam

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A Powell couple stands accused of exposing a toddler to meth and fentanyl last week.

Ashton Wollam, 26, and Makala Butz, 25, each face a felony count of child endangering, alleging they stored the drugs within the reach of a 2- or 3-year-old in their home.

At a Friday hearing, a prosecutor also alleged that Butz appears to have smoked meth while pregnant. Deputy Park County Attorney Larry Eichele indicated that agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation found a video of Butz smoking when they searched the couple’s possessions.

“There is some egregious conduct recorded, showing Mr. Wollam and his wife [Butz] smoking in the presence of their child — and actually one of them [the videos] looks like the child’s recording it,” Eichele said. “So this is a grave concern to us regarding the child present with fentanyl, given the dangers.”

Butz and Wollam were arrested April 18 and remained in the Park County Detention Center on Monday, with their bails respectively set at $50,000 and $25,000, cash or surety.

Charging documents say the case stemmed from March’s seizure of a Powell-bound package that contained nearly 10,000 fentanyl pills and a pound of meth. DCI agents arrested the Powell woman who was allegedly expecting the shipment, 27-year-old Victoria Zupko, on March 21. Zupko — who’s facing federal charges — reportedly told authorities that she planned to split last month’s shipment with unnamed other people.

DCI has continued to investigate leads they developed from the case. For example, agents searched Zupko’s phone and “observed known and unknown parties communicating about varying stages of drug distribution,” Special Agent Shane Reece wrote in an affidavit. Among them were Wollam and Butz, according to the agent. He said the seized text messages made it apparent that Zupko was acquiring fentanyl from Butz and Wollam “when she was out or in need.”

Agents went to the couple’s North Bent Street apartment on April 18. Wollam “was hesitant to answer the door or open the door,” but agreed to meet at Washington Park. During his conversation with the agents, Wollam admitted to obtaining 300-400 pills between late March and early April, the affidavit alleges. He reportedly told DCI that he used five to six tablets a day. By Reece’s math, that should have meant about 100 pills were left, but Wollam reported that he had about 25.

When the agent asked whether Wollam’s child was staying with him, Wollam replied that, “My children do not have access to it.”

He said the fentanyl pills weren’t at his apartment, but refused to say where they were.

“I can say that it has [been there] before but not currently and it normally isn’t,” Wollam allegedly offered, adding, “I can tell you my child is safe.”

Wollam was allowed to return home after the voluntary interview and a witness soon saw him throw a bag onto a nearby rooftop. When agents later obtained a warrant to search Wollam’s apartment, they recovered the bag. Inside, they found two baggies of apparent fentanyl tablets (about 4 grams worth), what appeared to be meth, drug paraphernalia and a bottle of shaving cream with a false bottom.

Inside the apartment, DCI reportedly found a small amount of meth in a backpack in the master bedroom, a loose fentanyl tablet in a dirty clothes hamper and a burnt piece of foil with a partially consumed fentanyl tablet in the child’s room; the foil was wrapped around a rocking chair — about a foot off the ground and “well within the access of the minor child,” Reece wrote.

Both Wollam and Butz denied knowing about the foil or how it came to be in the child’s room, the affidavit says.

For her part, Butz reportedly told the agents that she knew Wollam was using drugs, but that she was not using them because she is pregnant. However, Deputy County Attorney Eichele said that account was undercut by the video footage that showed Butz smoking; he used that allegation to argue for a higher bond for Butz.

“Apparently, she’s adamantly denied that she smoked while she’s pregnant, and that is a lie,” Eichele said. “And I don’t believe that we can trust her word, given she’s pregnant and knowing that addicts will continue to use.”

Neither Butz nor Wollam objected to the prosecutor’s bond recommendations, which were adopted without comment by Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah. The judge scheduled both cases for a preliminary hearing on Friday morning.

Charging documents say the Wyoming Department of Family Services took the child into protective custody.