New Hampshire’s attorney general announced on Thursday that the state had arrested the publisher of a local weekly newspaper in Londonderry earlier this week, alleging she illegally published political ads without properly disclosing them to be ads.

Londonderry Times publisher Debra Paul, 62, was arrested Wednesday, according to State Attorney General John M. Formella, and was charged with six violations of the state’s misdemeanor laws on political advertisements. Paul, along with her husband, runs Nutfield Publishing, which publishes the Times and the Nutfield News/Tri-Town Times.

In an affidavit, investigator Daniel Mederos wrote that in two different Londonderry Times issues spanning February and March 2022, Paul printed ads for various school board candidates or budget proposals that did not include a “Paid For” label at either the beginning or end of the ads, as required by state law. The ads also did not include the names or addresses of the people who financed the advertisements—also required by state law.

Formella’s office said Paul had been warned multiple times about the issue since 2019, with a “final warning” letter being issued last September over the ads’ proper labeling. Paul pleaded with the attorney general’s office by email in May, arguing political advertisements were “not my area of expertise.”

The small-town publisher could face up to a year in county jail and a $2,000 fine per violation if she is convicted.

In a statement to The Daily Beast on Thursday, Paul called her arrest an “overreaching” attack on a small-town newspaper.

“I would like to think the attorney generals [sic] office has more important matters to deal with than to send press releases out on misdemeanors such as this. With multiple unsolved homicides over the past year, this seems a bit absurd,” she wrote in an email. “This is clearly a case of a small business needing to defend itself against overreaching government. To threaten a small business owner with jail time over something this insignificant is very heavy handed.”

Paul’s lawyer Tony Naro concurred in another statement on Friday: “The Londonderry Times is among the dwindling numbers of small newspapers in New Hampshire, as well as around the country. The Londonderry Times does their absolute best to put out a quality publication with limited staff and a limited budget,” he wrote in an email. “Ms. Paul acted with no criminal intent, denies the allegations, and is presumed innocent. It is our intention to handle this matter exclusively in the court system where it belongs and not in the press.”

Paul’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 19.