CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A former Western Vista Credit Union facility manager faces two felony forgery charges after police accused him of creating competing bids to steer maintenance work to a business owned by an acquaintance.
Jerome Mariah Bircumshaw was arrested Sept. 21. Each charge carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both. The charges are allegations, and Bircumshaw is presumed innocent unless proven guilty, according to CapCity News.
Citing court documents, CapCity News reported that Bircumshaw managed facilities for the credit union’s Cheyenne branches and approved hiring Gray Painting LLC for lawn mowing, landscaping and small repairs. Police allege he created fraudulent documents between July and October 2024.
The credit union received a $21,238 landscaping invoice for its Sparks Road branch in July 2024 and a $17,972 invoice for work at its Storey Boulevard location that October, the report said. An investigation began in June 2025 after a credit union officer reported suspicious invoices.
What Audit Found
An audit allegedly found that two purported competing estimates — a $36,295 bid attributed to JN Landscaping and a $41,000 bid attributed to White Water Landscaping — had not been created or submitted by those businesses, according to court documents cited by CapCity News.
Bircumshaw acknowledged a personal relationship with Gray Painting’s owner during a recorded meeting with credit union officials in October 2025, the report said. The owner told investigators in January 2026 that she knew nothing about the alleged scheme while performing the work and that the relationship had ended shortly afterward.
