NO CONTACT: Stephan Ferry convicted of filing a false report against Sen. Jason Rapert.

Stephan Ferry, a critic of Sen. Jason Rapert who was charged on a complaint by Rapert with filing a false police report, was convicted of the charge Tuesday in District Court in Conway and sentenced to 30 days in jail. He said he would appeal

A woman who’s been following the case and was in the courtroom in sentencing said Judge David Reynolds asked Rapert to provide a statement for sentencing. According to her Facebook account, “…with tears in his eyes, the senator alleged that Ferry had stolen two years of his life.”

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We reported in some detail on the case in February.  Ferry had been raising money for a lawsuit to challenge Rapert’s blocking of critics from social media pages on which he discusses his public work.

Ferry said in a phone conversation that Rapert had threatened to send someone after him if he continued to bother him with calls. Rapert recorded the conversation. A tape he provided to police recorded Rapert as saying he would send police if Ferry continued to “harass and intimidate” him. The police investigated. The investigator, Thomas Cole, concluded Ferry “lacked credibility” when he said he didn’t known what Rapert meant by repeated statements warning him against calling.

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I don’t know about yesterday’s testimony. But the verdict was clear: Guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Reynolds hit him hard. He gave him a 180-day sentence, with all but 30 days suspended, and fined him $1,000. He was ordered not to contact Rapert or his family. He was given 90 days to serve the 30 days, meaning much could be served on weekends. Rapert said on Facebook:

Ferry, 45, who lives  in Conway but works out of state, said he’ll be raising money for his appeal. He commented in a brief message that Rapert’s “performance was worthy of an Emmy.”

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