'Sorry Your Name Got Muddied:' Blaine Co. Sheriff Apologizes After Arrest

A Blaine County man went through having a warrant out for his arrest, hiring an attorney, and going through the judicial process before the Blaine County Sheriff said this isn’t the correct guy threatening the oil company.

In 2023, an Oklahoma-based Oil Company started receiving emails from a farmer they said was threatening to blow up their pipelines.

The emails correlated to the 2022 movie How to Blow up a Pipeline, so the oil company acted.

“The deputy took the phone report, and then he spoke with officials from that company. They met, and he took a written statement from them,” said Blaine County Sheriff Travis Daugherty.

The company believed the farmer was upset that he wasn’t getting his fair share of money from putting a pipeline on his property.

“The deputy submitted the report to the DA so the oil field company knew it was in her hands,” said Sheriff Daugherty. 

Sheriff Travis Daugherty says this is where things began to unwind. The district attorney put out an arrest for Clayton Cowan. He was charged early this year with harassment by use of an electronic device.

But after a search warrant came back. The emails tracked back to Pennsylvania, not Blaine County.

“I believe we had someone stealing his profile or his information or a completely different person involved in it,” said Sheriff Daugherty. 

The Blaine County Farmer spoke with the Sheriff last night about how difficult this entire experience has been. The farmer hopes this new information will clear his family name.

“We're sorry this happened, and we're sorry your name got muddied, but we are going to do everything we can to clear this up,” said Sheriff Daugherty. 

Everything has been dismissed for the farmer. The oil company has not received any other threatening emails since 2023.