In early July, a California woman was arrested at the Cody rodeo grounds on allegations that she’d physically abused a 97-year-old man.
Park County prosecutors initially charged Michael LeAnn Winkle, 47, with a felony count of abusing a vulnerable adult and a misdemeanor count of domestic battery. Last week, however, they agreed to reduce the case to a single misdemeanor count of breach of peace. And under a deferred prosecution agreement, the case will ultimately be dismissed if Winkle can successfully complete six months of unsupervised probation.
While he didn’t go into details, Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Eichele indicated that he offered the deal because of the difficulty of proving the allegations. For one thing, both Winkle and the alleged victim had denied that there had been any abuse.
The case had drawn attention among auto aficionados because the victim in the case is Robert “Gene” Winfield — one of the country’s most famous auto customizers. While the California resident might not be a household name, his work has appeared in a slew of well-known movies and TV shows. For example, Winfield designed two dozen vehicles for the 1982 sci-fi classic “Blade Runner” and a shuttle for the original Star Trek series.
Winkle told police that she’d been serving as Winfield’s paid caretaker and she’d been managing his heavily followed social media accounts. On July 3, she posted a video to Winfield’s Instagram account that showed them traveling through Yellowstone National Park and the North Fork area. The beautiful scenery “does the soul some good,” Winkle wrote, though the following day, she also said she was “exhausted” and had “way more than I can handle.”
It was on the night of July 5 that police were summoned to Cody Stampede rodeo grounds. A caller reported that an intoxicated woman — later identified as Winkle — was “hitting and shoving an elderly male who was in a motorized scooter,” Officer Tanner Wichern wrote in an affidavit.
The caller later told police that he’d seen Winkle “yelling at Winfield to hurry the f— up and shoving him in the shoulder and neck area,” the affidavit says.
When police arrived at Winkle and Winfield’s camper in the rodeo grounds parking lot, Winkle denied there had been any kind of fight and seemed “baffled” by the accusation; she also appeared to be “highly intoxicated,” Officer Wichern wrote.
As for Winfield, he “insisted everything was fine,” the affidavit says. The document quotes Winfield as saying that Winkle “was just playing around and she was beating on me, but it’s no real problem.”
The eyewitness, however, told police that the incident did not appear to be fun or playful. Additionally, officers noted Winfield had red marks and a small wound on his head that seemed consistent with the witness’s account. Wichern also observed older bruises, including some that appeared to have been covered with flesh-colored makeup.
Winkle reported that the man had accidentally hurt himself, while he reportedly described the bruises as coming from a "domestic incident,” the affidavit alleges.
Police — who described the camper as being in “a cluttered and disheveled state” — arranged for Winfield to be taken to Cody Regional Health. A doctor there “tentatively agreed” that the elderly man appeared to fit the legal definition of a vulnerable adult, the affidavit says; he was later sent to Billings for further medical treatment. 
As for Winkle, she was arrested. A portable breath sample put her blood alcohol content at 0.23%, which is nearly three times the level at which a person is considered too impaired to drive.

Winkle spent parts of five days in jail before posting a $10,000 surety bond and being allowed to leave the area.
She had been set to go to trial this month, but the parties instead settled on the plea to breach of peace.
Eichele told District Court Judge Bill Simpson that he offered the deal because the facts of the case were “difficult at best from the inception.”
“We have significant proof problems,” the prosecutor said.
Winkle, who appeared in court by video, said little at the hearing beyond providing yes and no answers to routine questions. Her defense attorney, Tim Blatt, entered the no contest plea on her behalf.
“... We would acknowledge that the facts contained therein [the affidavit] would make out the factual basis for the no contest plea,” Blatt said.
Breach of peace applies when a person disturbs the peace with “unreasonably loud noise” or by using “threatening, abusive or obscene language or violent actions.”
Simpson accepted the deal without commenting on it, saying only that he trusted Eichele and Blatt’s judgment.
The judge asked about Winfield’s status and any comments he might have, but the county attorney’s office’s crime victim coordinator in Cody, Michelle Horn, said she had no comments to share.
A statement posted to Winfield’s Instagram account in late October said he had been “relocated to a professional care facility.”
Meanwhile, Winkle is being required to obey the law, abstain from alcohol and stay out of bars over the next six months. If she violates those terms, Winkle could be brought back before the court for sentencing, where Simpson would have the power to impose up to six months of jail time and a $750 fine.
While out on bond, Winkle was barred from contacting Winfield, but she now has no such restriction.