Judge Sets $500,000 Bond For Casper Man Arrested After Sunday Morning Standoff
A judge set a $500,000 bond for Christopher Eads who led authorities in Converse County and Natrona County on a high speed chase Saturday night with gunfire, multiple assaults and property destruction that resulted in a nearly four-hour standoff on F Street in Casper ending Sunday morning.
Eads, 34, heard the 11 counts read to him by Natrona County Circuit Court Judge Michael Patchen during an initial appearance on Thursday.
Assistant District Attorney Trevor Schenk argued for the high bond because of the alleged crimes committed over the weekend: one count each of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin; one count of delivering meth; six counts of aggravated assault; one count of felony property destruction; and one count of possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent.
Patchen said the conspiracy and property destruction counts include potentially enhanced penalties of 10 years of imprisonment each because Eads allegedly used firearms while committing those crimes.
If convicted on all counts, Eads faces up to 165 years of imprisonment.
Schenk also told Patchen that Eads has a lengthy criminal history in Wyoming and Colorado going back a decade including domestic battery, violation of a protection order, failures to appear in court, theft, assault, menacing and possession of controlled substances.
Eads, Schenk added, is unemployed and has few ties to Casper even though he said he's lived here all his life.
Patchen agreed, adding he must not leave the county, not violate laws, and not use alcohol and controlled substances if he bonds out.
That probably won't happen, Eads said.
"Five-hundred thousand dollars is out of my reach," he said.
Eads will be assigned a public defender, Patchen said.
Eads made his initial appearance five days after the chase and standoff with dozens of law enforcement officers from multiple local and state agencies on Saturday night.
He was booked into the Natrona County Detention Center on Wednesday afternoon after being discharged from the Wyoming Medical Center for treatment.