District Criminal Court Judge Alice Lightle approved a warrant for the arrest of Rodney Forte, executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Alliance in Little Rock, shortly before 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
The court's communication division said at about 4 p.m. that it was sending an officer to serve the warrant.
Forte faces a charge of failure to comply with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine up to $200 and 30 days in jail. Officials said Forte would not be taken into custody, since the charge is a misdemeanor; however, he would be issued a citation and date to appear in court.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette filed a complaint against Forte and the housing agency with the Prosecuting Attorney's Office last week after the housing agency failed to comply with repeated requests for public records. The newspaper amended its complaint Wednesday to include the housing agency's attempt to charge the newspaper more than $16,000 to hire outside workers to help it comply with the request.
See Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for more information.
