Abraham Kasparian Jr., Mass state representative candidate, violated protective order
BARNSTABLE — Abraham Kasparian Jr., a We The People party candidate for the 1st Barnstable District state representative seat, was convicted Oct. 18 in Barnstable District Court of violating a harassment prevention order.
He was sentenced to five years probation with a suspended sentence of two years, according to court records.
Kasparian was arrested by Yarmouth police on July 1, 2021, and charged with violating a protective order, according to court documents.
“Harassment orders must be taken seriously. I would’ve convicted me if I was on the jury,” Kasparian said in an interview with the Times. “I made some mistakes based on how the law functions."
Kasparian said he thought he could contact the victim in the case.
"But I was wrong based, on the closing argument of the district attorney," he said. "He said you violated the law despite the fact you didn’t say anything threatening or cause physical harm.”
Kasparian is vying on Nov. 8 alongside Chris Flanagan, a Democrat, and Tracy Post, a Republican, for the seat held now by state Rep. Timothy Whelan, R-Brewster. Whelan is running for Barnstable County Sheriff.
Kasparian arrested in 2021 on a charge of violating a protective order
At the time of his arrest in 2021, Kasparian faced a charge of violating a protective order, according to court documents.
A Yarmouth officer was asked to speak with the victim late at night on June 30, 2021, according to the police report. The victim showed the officer a copy of a harassment order from July 31, 2020 related to Kasparian, stating there should be “no contact.” The victim had emailed Kasparian that morning concerning a civil suit in which they were involved, explicitly stating that he was not to make contact, and Kasparian had responded, violating the harassment order, according to the police report. They’d emailed each other again. The police officer saw the responses on the victim’s phone. After police failed to make contact with Kasparian that night, he was arrested the next day.
In a follow-up interview by the Yarmouth police, the victim said that Kasparian had been a roommate of the victim's uncle, and that Kasparian was attempting to obtain money the uncle owed him by trying to contact the victim’s father via the victim, according to the police report.
Kasparian said that he’d won a $100,000 settlement against the victim’s father and uncle “for the theft of my personal property” and “massive property damages” after an eviction of those individuals from a home he owned, according to materials provided by Kasparian to the Times.
But Kasparian said he was unable to locate their addresses to collect in 2020 — which was why he’d initially contacted the victim. The emails include settlement offers to the victim and the father.
Kasparian increased contact of victim by calling, showing up at victim's job
The victim told Yarmouth police in 2021, according to their report, that Kasparian continued to ask for a meeting in 2020 — once a day by either calling or physically showing up at the victim's place of employment, so the victim obtained the protective order that was granted Aug. 9, 2020.
The victim also told the police there was “a complex series of civil lawsuits currently ongoing" between the victim and Kasparian, according to the police report, and the victim said there were emails sent to him to cover all bases and provide documents as attachments for the suits.
Kasparian said — in one of his replies that violated the protective order — that he was not opening the attachments because he was concerned they could contain viruses due to the “extensive criminal history of your co-defendant and father.”
The victim also sent documents via certified mail but Kasparian replied that he was unable to collect the mail because he was working. “Please use first class U.S. Mail without requirement of signature,” he wrote on June 16 of this year.
The victim said Kasparian had emailed back four times since the initial complaint made to the police earlier this year.
Police contacted Clerk Magistrate Charles Ardito to get his opinion about the circumstances, and he said, “This did not rise to the level of a violation” and should be subject to a clerk magistrate hearing instead of a criminal proceeding as the communications dealt only with the court litigation, according to the police report.
Nonetheless, a criminal complaint was eventually filed, leading to the trial.
Kasparian is now seeking a change in state law related to his conviction
As a result of the conviction, Kasparian wants to revise the state statute under which he was convicted. The law is Chapter 258E, related to harassment prevention orders.
Kasparian told the Times he had already sought a revision in the law with Whelan but wants a further modification.
“It was very eye-opening that I did violate the statute based on the way it was worded. It was the act of sending the letter without having permission to do so. I sent the documents in good faith.”
Kasparian wants to change the law so if a person has a no-contact order against someone but then reaches out to contact the person the no-contact order is void if the respondent replies – provided they don’t physically show up and confront the person or call.
“That person contacted me hoping I would contact them back,” he said. “Had I known I would not have sent anything out. Overall I know I made an error. I have accepted the responsibility and that’s the thing that will make me a good representative – I accept responsibility.”
Kasparian had to pay $359 and a $50 witness fee in addition to receiving probation until 2027.
The PROTECTIVE ORDER indicated NO CONTACT!
Why would you support or vote for ANYONE who can't READ or figure out the LAW?
You're supposed to support someone in elected office who continues to violate a PROTECTIVE ORDER?
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