TAUNTON — A Fairhaven man will spend a year in jail for his role in producing an online rap video last year that threatened two law enforcement officials. Jason Foley, 29, also will be placed on two years of supervised probation during which he will not be allowed to use a computer or access the Internet.
Foley also will have to turn in the laptop he used to edit the video that was posted last winter on Myspace and YouTube entitled "Watch 4 Me."
Foley, Matthew Rufino, 25, of New Bedford, and at least three other men were seen in the video, produced by "508 Productions," rapping about their hatred for law enforcement and threatening to use guns if police tried to arrest them.
Foley was convicted last Thursday following a three-day trial in Taunton District Court on two counts each of witness intimidation and threats to commit a crime. He was sentenced Thursday.
In the video, Rufino cursed his former probation officer and a Massachusetts State Police trooper who had pulled him over for a motor vehicle violation in 2006. Images of a woman being held at gunpoint, a state police cruiser and New Bedford District Court accompany the lyrics, as does the sound of gunshots.
Prosecutors said Foley edited and uploaded the video to the Internet. He produced the video using a laptop computer and a makeshift production studio in his parents' garage. The purported firearms seen in the video were toy guns, court records said.
A condition of Foley's probation includes that he cannot own or possess any real or replica firearms and he is banned from accessing the Internet or using a computer.
Rufino pleaded guilty earlier this year to two counts of threats to commit a crime and served 90 days in jail.
Last December, a Superior Court judge who overturned a District Court ruling that had denied bail for Foley said the video was a "dismal enterprise, both mean-spirited and repellent in tone."
The video has since been removed from the Internet.