A municipal code officer in Pinedale, Wyoming, has fined a 13-year-old girl for selling Girl Scout cookies in front of her grandparents’ home. The incident, which occurred on March 13, appears to be a bizarre example of government overreach.

The story began when Erica Fairbanks McCarroll and her daughter Emma were selling the cookies after school. They were soon approached by a code enforcement officer.

Fairbanks McCarroll told DailyMail.com the woman, who was driving the town’s animal control vehicle and did not identify herself as code enforcement, told them they could not block the sidewalk.

The mother and daughter pulled back their stand and continued to sell cookies for two more days before the woman showed up again and handed them citations.

‘We sold for about 1 hour and 30 minutes when she showed up and handed me 3 parking tickets totaling $400,’ Fairbanks McCarroll said on Facebook.

‘I responded that I had complied with what she had asked and had moved off the sidewalk. She said the tickets aren’t just for being on the sidewalk and that this is for your daughter’s safety.’

Fairbanks McCarroll was given a $100 fine for parking on the sidewalk, a $150 fine for unlawful obstruction and another $150 fine for a municipal code that said there needs to be at least five feet of unobstructed passage on the sidewalk.

The incident confused the mother since the officer did not actually tell her what law she and her daughter were supposedly violating.

Fairbanks McCarroll said, ‘She did not identify herself as Code Enforcement, she did not say what I was doing was illegal, she didn’t say she would or even could write me a ticket, she didn’t even say I couldn’t sell there anymore. All she said really was you shouldn’t block the sidewalk.’

When the code enforcement officer told her the Fairbanks probably would not like her blocking their property, Fairbanks McCarroll said: ‘I responded with ‘the Fairbanks are my parents and they don’t care.’ She then said ‘okay well I just recommend you don’t block the sidewalk’ and left.’

Pinedale officials released a statement defending the officer’s actions, claiming that the mother and daughter had “received two verbal requests to relocate her stand outside of the WYDOT right-of-way, off the sidewalk, and closer to her parents’ private property.”

However, there appears to be more to the story. According to the mother, they tried to comply with the officer’s demands but still faced punishment.

A key point in the dispute seems to be Fairbanks McCarroll’s belief that when she was asked to move her car from the sidewalk, which was blocking pedestrian traffic, she did so by moving it behind the fence and parking out on the street the following day.

Her daughter also was asked to move from the sidewalk as well, which she did.

For sure, there’s a dispute between city accounts and Fairbanks McCarroll over who was told what about moving from the sidewalk, and where they were told to move.

Fairbanks McCarroll argues that the fines were unwarranted, especially since her daughter set up the cookie sales operation in the driveway of her own grandparents, and her vehicle was parked in the driveway of her parents.

Erica obtained a lawyer and got two of the tickets dismissed. Pinedale Mayor Matt Murdock also defended the officer’s actions and claimed the city and officer have both received threats. Indeed, there has been a backlash.

Pinedale Treasurer Amy Sturman sent a screenshot with snippets from emails expressing vindicative thoughts directed toward city officials about the situation.

“I thought you might like to see a screenshot of the hate mail your feel-good girl scout article brought about,” she wrote in a Thursday email to Cowboy State Daily.

The emails provided by Sturman show four-letter words and other profanities being leveled against the city ‘s chief overseer of municipal codes.

“The last thing your town needs is a negative image of a code enforcement officer who has an authority complex,” wrote one person.

Another person wrote that he had planned to stay in Pinedale on vacation, “but after I read the girl scout cookie deal, I’m going to pass.”

One woman wrote: “You are getting very bad reviews for your callous treatment of a Girl Scout.”

The mother argued that the incident represents an “abuse of power” and said, “It just sucks that my daughter’s whole experience around selling cookies was crushed in the small town I grew up in.”