TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. (WVUE) -A Tangipahoa Parish resident says his arrest over a Facebook post violated his First Amendment rights.
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The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office (TPSO) arrested 70-year-old Arden Wells for ‘Terrorizing’ back in July.
The sheriff’s office said Wells falsely posted online that an inmate had escaped from the parish jail on June 24, 2025. The facility has a well-documented and recent history of escapes.
“Just as the law does not allow someone to falsely yell ‘fire’ in the middle of a theater to create panic, or to publish a fake threat against a school to cancel classes out of fear, a person cannot falsely publicize a concerning event like an inmate escape to scare people and we will not tolerate when they do,” Sheriff Gerald Sticker said in the release.
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Wells, an outspoken critic of Sticker, frequently used his Facebook page with more than 10,000 followers to criticize the sheriff, his job performance, and his push for a sales tax.
The arrest affidavit references a June 24 Facebook post in which Wells wrote, “Deputies have blocked streets & a helicopter is flying over the jail, it appears a prisoner has escaped from the TPSO jail!”
There was no jail escape on that day.
Deputies arrested Wells on July 25, a month after the post, a timeline Wells questioned.
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“I can’t see how if you believe anyone is a terrorist, you would allow things to go on that long,” he said.
The arrest affidavit stated the post “undermines the ability of the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office to maintain safety within the parish.”
It references the posts’ 83 shares and 24 comments, including “Again, so easy.”
“I don’t (understand why the public would be concerned), because I don’t I don’t think that, with the helicopter flying over and the cops setting up a roadblock that my statement added or took away anything from the situation. If I was a person living in Amite and I saw a helicopter over the jail and cops setting up roadblocks, I wouldn’t need a Facebook post to make me concerned,” he said.
He called his arrest unconstitutional.
“Free speech is not just the speech that everybody likes. Free speech is the right to say things that people don’t want to hear. Free speech is the right to say things that antagonize other people,” he said.
The deputy authoring the affidavit alleges Wells knew there was no escape, because he had correctly posted about contraband shakedown earlier that day.
Wells denies knowing there was no escape.
Terrorizing carries up to 15 years in prison, but it’s unclear if he will ever go to trial.
Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney Scott Perrilloux said the case is still being screened, and no decision has been made on charges.
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Constitutional law expert Dane Ciolino said the case will center on Wells’ intent (or lack thereof) to terrorize the public. He said that could be hard to prosecute given Wells’ outspoke opposition to Sticker.
“It does seem to be the type of speech in the context that it was given that was not likely to cause any imminent public safety threat or reaction by law enforcement. So it would seem to me that even if this did fit the definition of terrorizing, there are legitimate First Amendment concerns,” Ciolino said.
Sticker declined an interview request on Tuesday (9/30), stating the judicial process is ongoing.
Wells said he plans to sue the sheriff’s office once the criminal case is resolved.
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