Man jailed for harassment

SANDPOINT — A Newport man was ordered to serve 10 days in jail for sending threatening and harassing messages to a teen whom he felt disrespected him, court records show.

John William Clark, 23, was charged with using a communication device to engage harassment last year. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced on Feb. 22 to 365 days in jail with 355 days suspended. Bonner County Magistrate Court Judge Lori Meulenberg also placed Clark on probation for two years, court records show.

The teen, a Priest River Lamanna High School student, alerted police after she found herself on the receiving end of vulgar and threatening messages from Clark. One of the messages threatened to sic methamphetamine users on her to rape her, a police affidavit said.

Clark told police he sent the messages because he felt he was owed an explanation as to why she would not respond to earlier messages, according to court documents. Clark said he had no intention of acting on the threats he was issuing.