Sunapee — The man charged with illegally influencing the 2016 School Board election, which saw his wife won a seat, has entered pleas of not guilty in Newport District Court.

Joseph Furlong, 39, was charged in March with several misdemeanors after he allegedly altered an email just before the 2016 election that made it appear as if it came from another candidate running for a School Board seat against his wife, Heather Furlong. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday but his attorney filed a waiver of arraignment and the not guilty pleas.

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According to a police affidavit, Furlong changed an email he received then resent it to numerous people just days before the March 2016 election.

The email portrayed two of the candidates for the board in an unfavorable light, documents state.

Heather Furlong won one of the two seats on the board, but after the charges were filed, she resigned. She was not charged in the scheme.

Joseph Furlong is charged with one count of false reports to law enforcement, two counts of false documents, names and endorsements, and three counts of forgery. Londonderry, N.H., resident Adam Gaw, who is described as a friend of Furlong in an affidavit filed by Sunapee police, also was charged with three counts of forgery and two counts of false documents, names and endorsements.

The investigation began when the husband of one of the candidates, an incumbent, noticed a difference in the email for the original and contacted police.

The state Attorney General’s Office is prosecuting the case.

A trial date for Furlong has not been scheduled.

Editor’s Note
An earlier version of this story described Joseph Furlong and Adam Gaw as friends without reporting the source of that information, a police affidavit. Furlong disputes that characterization of his relationship with Gaw.