The Teton County sheriff rejected a request this week by a state agency to withhold the name of a man involved in a drug investigation from the sheriff’s online jail inmate list.

Jose Hernandez-Martinez, 26, made an initial appearance Thursday in 9th Circuit Court on a charge of delivery of a controlled substance. He’s accused of selling an ounce of cocaine to an informant working with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.

Hernandez-Martinez is being held in the Teton County Jail, and his name will appear on the online inmate list this morning, said Sgt. Troy Sutton, the jail administrator. He was arrested by DCI agents, police said.

The omission was discovered about 9:30 a.m. on Monday when a reporter asked whether everyone in the jail appears on the list, which had been updated just after 9 a.m.

Sutton said then that DCI had asked him to omit one name from the list. Sutton confirmed the person was involved in a drug investigation but declined to reveal the person’s name at that time.

When told about the omission Monday afternoon, Capt. Scott Terry said he would discuss the matter with Sheriff Jim Whalen.

Less than 30 minutes later, Terry said Whalen informed him that the office’s policy was to list all inmates.

On Tuesday, Whalen said his office has never before had a request to withhold an inmate’s name.

“We got a request from the arresting agency not to publish his name,” Whalen said. The jail sergeant left the name off the list wanting to assist, he said.

Sutton said Tuesday that he was on duty when the request was made.

“They just asked if there was a way to block it,” he said.

But the request didn’t quite sit right with him, Sutton said.

“I knew the public did have a right to that information, so I questioned it,” he said.

DCI agents would not comment on the record about the case or why they wanted the arrested man’s name kept secret.

In the past this newspaper did not publish a story about a law enforcement drug investigation after officials said revealing the operation would jeopardize the life of an undercover agent, newspaper editors said. DCI made no similar request to editors in this case.

Whalen said he has advised DCI that if agents don’t want the public to know who is in jail they shouldn’t book the suspect into the county lockup.

“When people are booked, I believe it becomes public knowledge,” Whalen said. “Unless there’s some outrageous reason.”

One such reason might be when a prisoner’s life could be in danger because he has divulged information that led to other arrests, Whalen said.

In court Thursday, Judge Timothy C. Day set Hernandez-Martinez’s bail at $25,000 and scheduled a preliminary hearing for 10:45 a.m. on Nov. 24. Hernandez-Martinez told the judge he will not need the public defender’s services because he intends to hire an attorney.

Sutton confirmed that U.S. Immigrations and Custom Enforcement has placed a hold on Hernandez-Martinez, which means he likely will face deportation after this case is concluded.