Mark Yphantis said he is trying to move on with his life after charges of conspiring to assault a Weare police officer – and accepting $700 to do it – and being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon were dropped at a probable cause hearing on Monday, March 11.

“We did a further investigation, which revealed that we wouldn’t be going forward with the charges,” Weare Detective Lou Chatel said, adding only that the testimony of other parties had been added to the investigation and that Yphantis surrendered a 14-inch Bowie knife to police, eliminating the Class B weapon possession felony.

He would not elaborate on what information came to light that changed the investigation’s course. “I’m very limited to what they’ll let me say,” Chatel said.

Yphantis, 47, of 186 A Concord Stage Road, was arrested Jan. 28 on allegations he was plotting to run Weare Police Sgt. James Carney off the road and further to strike him with his elbow, according to a police affidavit from Carney.

“When I got charged with everything, I was on the front page, and now all the articles are on the back page,” Yphantis said of recent reports about the dropped charges.

“Everybody has skeletons in their closet, but mine are all out in the papers,” Yphantis, a felon who has served hard time for a 1998 assault in which a woman went down a flight of stairs and broke her hip, said.

He added he is having an exceptionally hard time finding work since his arrest.

“I tried to get my old job back. They won’t even talk to me,” Yphantis said.

Possible new employers have recognized his name and face from news reports and have turned him down at several interviews, he said.

Police made the arrest based on police interviews with Robert Phelps, 88, of 30 Merrill Road. Phelps told police that his daughter had given Yphantis money to help him while he was out of work.

Phelps said the money was not intended as a pay off to harm officer Carney, but that Yphantis mistakenly understood the money as such. At first, Phelps originally told police it was between $7,000 and $8,000 but later corrected himself, saying the amount was actually $700.

Yphantis, who said the money was a loan for his rent, had been a witness to a shooting on Phelps’ property that occurred in 2007, after Yphantis said he finished an addition on Phelps’ home.

According to Carney’s affidavit, Phelps began to interfere with responding officers’ efforts to treat the shooting victim. Carney tried to lead Phelps away from the scene, and somehow Phelps fell to the ground and cut his arm.

According to police, Yphantis cooperated fully with that investigation.

Phelps agreed to call Yphantis to confirm his claims on Jan. 26. Yphantis’ girlfriend answered the phone and said Yphantis was sleeping, asking Phelps to call back later. He did, and on this call told Yphantis’ girlfriend he wanted to offer Yphantis $2,000 to “deal with Sgt. Carney,” adding he had a “run-in” with Carney that day.

“(Yphantis’ girlfriend) stated Yphantis was not acting himself tonight and would contact Phelps in the morning. It was apparent that (she) has prior knowledge of her boyfriend’s intent to harm Sgt. Carney. According to Phelps, (she) did not question Phelps about what he said,” the affidavit says. Yphantis said he holds no grudges against the Weare Police Department, and praised Chatel for remaining professional and neutral during the course of the investigation.

“They didn’t know the whole story, and they needed to find it out,” said Yphantis of Weare police. “They just overreacted a little bit,” adding he understands the mind set that would compel any police officer to protect a fellow officer in situations such as this one.

He admitted his status as a felon certainly didn’t help steer the investigation in his favor. “There’s a lot of people that stereotype you in situations before they even know you. Yeah, I’m a felon, but lots of people are felons. Let’s look at the situation that happened,” Yphantis said.

Chatel said while it was discussed at one point, there have never been any plans to charge Phelps with anything for his role in the alleged transaction to harm Carney or for filing false reports of any kind, and said the case was officially closed.

While he has gained some support from members of the community, Yphantis said he will likely move out of the Weare area to get away from the incident.

He added he has no plans to take any civil action against the town of Weare or the police department.