A Wyoming journalist faces 10 new felony charges accusing her of forging documents that falsely showed she had received a loan and grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a Chugwater home she sought to purchase.  Platte County prosecutors charged April Marie Morganroth on Wednesday wi th five counts of forgery and five counts of possession of forged writing, court filings show. Each forgery charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. The possession charges can result in a five-year prison sentence. Morganroth already faces 10 other charges for allegedly forging documents to oppose a proposed wind farm in the Chugwater area and lying under oath at a hearing concerning the project.  WyoFile’s calls to Morganroth on Thursday went unanswered. One phone number went straight to voicemail. Another said the voicemail hadn’t been set up. Morganroth had not responded by publishing time.  Morganorth, known in Wyoming by her alias Marie Hamilton, has worked as a reporter for the Platte County Record-Times, Oil City News and Cap City News and was the owner, publisher and managing editor of 307 Wyoming Sentinel. Morganroth was also an outspoken figure after News Media Corporation announced last year that it was closing eight Wyoming newspapers, including the one in Platte County that employed her at the time.  Converse County investigators, who assisted with the case, found evidence that Morganroth had forged documents that purported to be from the Department of Agriculture and two companies in an attempt to show that she and her husband prequalified for a USDA loan and had been awarded a grant to make improvements to a Chugwater property they were interested in purchasing, according to an arrest affidavit signed by Converse County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ben Peech.  Two Chugwater residents had listed the property at 363 JJ Road for sale. According to court documents, Morganroth told them that she and her husband wanted to buy the property and were prequalified for a USDA loan through Neighbor’s Bank. Morganroth also claimed they had been approved for a USDA grant to work on the property and bring it up to standard to qualify for the loan, the affidavit states.  According to court documents, Morganroth provided the homeowners and their realtor with letters from the USDA showing that she had been prequalified for a USDA loan and given a USDA grant.  One of those documents, dated June 10, 2025, and titled “Notice of Approval USDA Rural Development via Neighbors Bank partnership,” states that Morganroth and her husband had been approved for a “USDA Rural Development” loan of $365,000.  The letter includes a list of 14 items that needed to be completed before final loan approval. It states that “All invoices and receipts are to be sent to: USDA Rural Development Loans and Grants 3521 Discovery Parkway, Suite 115 Columbia, Missouri 65201.”  Another letter, dated Nov. 6, 2025, and titled “USDA Rural Development — Rural Communities Home Buyer Program Second-Round Grant Award,” states that Morganroth and her husband had been awarded a grant of $35,000. The document says that a “formal status review” conducted on Nov. 5, 2025, indicated that the project was about 65% complete.  The homeowners made a written agreement with Morganroth and her husband to take the property off the market and rent it to Morganroth and her husband while the couple made property improvements to qualify for the USDA loan, the affidavit states. They began leasing the property in July. As part of the agreement, Morganroth was required to send the homeowners monthly reports documenting work on the property.  But during the lease, Morganroth was often late on rent and didn’t provide work logs “until pressed,” according to the affidavit. In early 2026, the homeowners “became concerned” and began asking about her progress with property improvements. Morganroth sent the homeowners two invoices from contractors showing she had paid for work to be done, but claimed that it had not yet been completed because of “windy conditions.”  One invoice included the name “Cowgirl Demolition and Excavation, LLC” and the company’s logo and showed the firm had allegedly been paid $3,075. Another with the name “Pete’s Builders Roofing and Restoration” and the firm’s logo states the Morganroths had paid the company $7,890.  Converse County sheriff’s investigator Amber Peterson contacted the companies and sent them copies of the invoices, according to the affidavit. Both stated that they hadn’t contracted to do work for Morganroth or at the 363 JJ Road address.  Another letter with the USDA logo dated Jan. 28, 2026, stated that the project was about 80% complete, court documents state. “Please keep up the great work and don’t forget to complete all your USDA Rural Development Future Home Owners classes on your USDA portal,” the letter says. It included the same Missouri address as the other grant letter and listed Susan Allman as the local USDA representative in Casper.  Peech, the sheriff’s lieutenant, contacted USDA Rural Development Deputy State Director Janice Blare and provided the USDA letters to her. Blare told Peech that the agency investigated the letters internally and found there was “no evidence” USDA had issued them, nor were there records of Morganroth or her husband in the USDA loan or grant program.  The director shared that USDA Rural Development doesn’t have a program titled “USDA – Rural Development – Rural Communities Home Buyer Program,” which was listed on two of the letters. Further, she told Peech that on Nov. 6, 2025, the date of the first letter claiming Morganroth had been approved for a grant, U.S. government offices, including the USDA, were on furlough and not approving any loans or grants.  Additionally, the director said there was no record of a woman named Susan Allman working for USDA. Nor did a USDA office exist at the Missouri address that was listed on the documents that authorities suspect Morganroth forged. Peech called the phone number listed for Allman and was disconnected. He determined that the phone number was a Voice Over Internet Protocol number operated by Bandwidth LLC but assigned to Google, Inc. He also searched the Missouri address listed on the USDA letters and found that the location was a dirt lot.  A March 16 complaint initiating an eviction of the Morganroths from the Chugwater property states that the couple failed to pay $2,100 in rent. According to the complaint, an eviction notice was posted on the home’s door on March 11, but the Morganroths “refused to leave.”  Morganroth is summoned to appear in the Platte County Circuit Court on April 8. The post Wyoming journalist faces 10 more forgery charges in alleged homebuying scheme appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less