EXETER — An Exeter man was arrested after posting comments online regarding Police Chief William Shupe, a charge that has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Robert W. Frese, 62, of 43 Hayes Mobile Home Park, was charged May 23 with criminal defamation of character, a Class B misdemeanor. According to the complaint, Frese allegedly posted that “Chief Shupe covered up for a dirty cop.”

Exeter police Patrol Capt. Stephan Poulin declined to comment on the arrest and said Shupe could not comment because “he's the victim.”

Frese believes an online comment he made May 3, when he accused a recently retired Exeter officer of police misconduct and that Shupe “covered up for this dirty cop,” led to the charge.

Frese said he's had issues with an officer in the department since a 2013 traffic stop. He was previously charged and convicted by Exeter police on charges of stalking in 2014 and criminal trespassing in 2017 for rummaging through a private dumpster.

Frese said he believes the defamation charge is “bogus” and that police charged him because it would trigger his re-arrest for violating good behavior as ordered from a prior conviction. "They know I'll go to jail if I get convicted of a misdemeanor,” Frese said. “They want to silence me.”

Gilles Bissonnette, legal director with the New Hampshire chapter of the ACLU, called on the Exeter police to dismiss the charge immediately. He cited the U.S. Supreme Court New York Times v. Sullivan decision that upheld the "actual malice" standard, before speech against public officials can be considered libel.

"There are serious free speech concerns with the enforcement of this criminal statute against the speech of this individual. Indeed, it appears that the police may be using this statute to suppress speech that is critical of police," Bissonette said. "Even in civil cases, public officials must meet a stringent standard in order to recover damages for defamatory statements. Allowing criminal prosecutions for such statements would give the government too much power to censor its critics, and would inevitably chill political speech lying at the heart of the First Amendment."

Frese was convicted March 26 of felony conduct after an accident that caused personal injury stemming from an incident Aug. 8, 2017, when he hit a construction flagger with his car in Portsmouth. According to an affidavit filed with the Portsmouth Circuit Court by officer Robert Lukacz, the flagger was interviewed at the hospital and said that before Frese drove into him, he told the flagger, “If you don't move, I'm going to run you over.”

Frese was originally charged with felony first-degree assault and reckless conduct, but those charges were dismissed as part of a negotiated plea deal with prosecutors. He was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison, all but 67 days suspended as long as he remains on good behavior for the next two years.

In an interview for this story, Frese admitted to posting about Shupe and another officer in the comments section under a story published on Seacoastonline.com and on other websites. However, he does not believe his actions constitute defamation of character. Police would not comment on whether the post on Seacoastonline was the basis of the charge. Seacoastonline removed the comment because it contained a statement of fact that has not been proven.

The criminal complaint against Frese reads, “(Frese) purposely communicated on a public website, in writing, information which he knows to be false and knows will tend to expose another person to public contempt, by posting that Chief Shupe covered up for a dirty cop.”

Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway said her office does not see many criminal defamation of character cases, but since the offense is a Class B misdemeanor, those cases are prosecuted by police departments and the assistant county attorneys who work under her.

Frese was released on a personal recognizance bail following his May 23 arrest. He is scheduled to be arraigned July 10 in Brentwood District Court.