A Lebanon woman was arrested Saturday for harassment after a man verbally accosted and video recorded her and family members at Towne Pump, 890 Main St.
Police responded at 2:30 p.m. on July 16 to a call from Amanda Jewell Gentry, 36. Police arrested Gentry for harassment. She was cited, booked and released.
Gentry had reported that Conald Petersen, 48, was recording video of her young niece.
“She knocked the camera out of his hand,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. “He wished to pursue charges.”
The incident is visible in a YouTube video posted by Petersen, who often uses the Internet handle “fed Smoker,” along with other names, posted on Youtube. This particular video was posted by “fed Smoker.”
The video opens on Gentry’s vehicle and Petersen saying for the camera, “Hey, let’s have it at fat hog over there.”
Petersen pulls up to a gas pump accross the island from Gentry, pointing his camera at her car, driven by her niece.
“‘S up, pig?” he asks, launching into a stream of derogatory comments apparently aimed at Gentry and her niece. That starts a heated exchange.
Visible in the video, Gentry approaches and apparently knocks the video camera out of Petersen’s hands – the screen goes black. After Petersen threatens to call the police, it is actually Gentry who calls.
“That’s what tweak does to ya, kid,” Petersen said after Gentry was taken into custody by the Sweet Home Police Department.
Petersen has traveled the country, including periodic stops in Sweet Home, posting a variety of videos where he insults public officials, police officers and others then uploads the videos to YouTube. He has publicly labeled public officials in Sweet Home as “baby rapers” and frequently refers to people as “baby rapers” in his videos.
When Petersen approaches someone like that, Lynn said, it’s best to “really avoid contact. There’s no easy answer. The vast majority of the time, he has a right to be doing what he’s doing. There’s no crime.”
Petersen has been trespassed from several locations in Sweet Home, including Weyerhaeuser’s Foster Mill, McDonald’s, the Sweet Home Gleaners and First Baptist Church, Lynn said.
Police have had multiple contacts with Petersen, typically suspicious person and suspicious vehicle calls, from people concerned that he was filming, Lynn said. “We’ve taken no enforcement action against him.”
Earlier in the week, at 5:42 p.m. on July 14, Petersen called the police reporting that a group of juveniles were harassing him and his girlfriend in the 800 block of 14th Avenue.
An officer responded and contacted the parties involved. Both were heated, and the officer advised all parties to keep the peace.