A former South Whidbey man who’s hiding from the long arm of the law in China was banned recently from the Island County Sheriff’s Office Facebook for trollish activities, according to Detective Ed Wallace.

Trolling is defined as being “deliberately offensive” or “provocative online posting” aimed at upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.

Michael Farrens has been a thorn in the sheriff’s cyberspace side since his mugshot was posted on the sheriff’s Facebook page last month. He accused the sheriff’s office of discriminating against him by posting his mugshot and of illegally arresting him in a felony eluding case from 2013.

Since then, Farrens created an oddly psychedelic Youtube video criticizing Coupeville Marshal Rick Norrie, who arrested him in the 2013 case, and launched a Facebook page of his own with a petition to get Norrie fired.

Norrie said he heard about Farrens’ shenanigans, but has chosen to ignore them because he doesn’t want to lower himself to that level.

“I’m just a guy who does a job,” Norrie said.

Farrens was known to law enforcement on South Whidbey before he moved to China. In one case, a Clinton couple came home to find Farrens naked and lying in a fetal position in their shower, according to documents obtained through a records request.

Farrens claimed he was shackled and bound by pirates, the deputy’s report said.

Farrens explained in an email that he was recovering from gum graft surgery when he went into the neighbor’s home.

Farrens is wanted on a $10,000 warrant issued by Island County Superior Court. Prosecutors charged him on Sept. 11, 2013 with assault in the third degree and felony eluding.

Norrie was a sergeant with the Island County Sheriff’s Office when he clocked Farrens speeding on State Highway 525 in Clinton Jan. 19, 2013, according to Norrie’s report on the incident. The deputy said he turned on his emergency lights and pursued Farrens, who allegedly led him on a chase in dense fog through a Clinton Foodmart parking lot to Deer Lake Road and eventually to Possession Ridge Lane.

Farrens stopped at his home.

Norrie and another deputy pulled him from his car while Farrens resisted, according to the report. Farrens allegedly head-butted Norrie in the face while he was being seat belted in the back of Norrie’s car.

“The defendant intentionally violently moved his head forward striking me in the left nose — left eye socket,” Norrie wrote.

Farrens also allegedly threatened Norrie.

“The defendant also implied his wife was a known Chinese mafia associate and would end my life for the injustice served him,” Norrie wrote.

The report states that Norrie, a certified drug recognition expert, believed that Farrens showed signs of both alcohol and marijuana impairment. A breath test showed Farrens had a blood-alcohol level of .055 percent, which is below the legal limit.

Farren’s version of the incident is that he was recovering from surgery, had one beer with dinner and was followed home by Norrie, not “pursued.”

In a message to the Whidbey News-Times, Farrens said the deputies tried to “railroad” him because they were sure he was driving drunk.

Farrens claimed Norrie shot at him and then assaulted him, nearly breaking his arm.

“At that point I became very agitated with the way I was being treated and resisted his attempts to try and assault me further,” Farrens wrote. “The other two officers at that point became active with the struggle. They put me in the back of Norrie’s cruiser and instead of closing the door and leaving me alone they piled in on top of me and started hitting me.”

Farrens claims he did not make the comment about his wife, but that Norrie twisted his words.

Farren said he never heard anything from the courts for many months, so he and his wife moved to China. Records showed he wasn’t charged until eight months after the incident.

“I am currently living in China because both me and my Chinese wife were in fear of our safety after this happened,” he wrote.

According to records from the Sheriff’s Office, an analysis of blood taken from Farrens that night show that he also had 15ng/mL of active THC in his system, which is three times the current — but controversial —legal limit. Wallace said the delay in charging Farrens was partly because investigators were waiting for the results.

For the record, Norrie said he didn’t shoot at Farrens or assault him.

In his video about Norrie, Farrens highlights a 2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer story, “Some cops get free passes when stopped for DUI.”

The story is critical of the former Island County sheriff’s handling of a 2003 incident in which Norrie, a sergeant at the time, allowed one of his patrol deputies to drive home drunk on Whidbey Island.

As reported in the Whidbey News-Times at the time, Norrie met the deputy on the side of the road to discuss why she was late for her shift. He smelled alcohol on her breath and gave her a preliminary breath test, which showed a 0.119 blood-alcohol level.

Norrie told the woman to drive directly home in her patrol car, but immediately realized his mistake and called the then-sheriff to explain what happened.

This week, Norrie said that there was more to the story, but that he admitted he made a mistake and took the consequences.

Mark Brown, the current sheriff, named Norrie as the Coupeville town marshal after the sheriff’s office took over law enforcement in the town early this year.

Farrens’ video has photos of Norrie, used without permission, from the Whidbey Examiner with text from the P-I story.

Farrens claims he was banned from the sheriff’s Facebook page because of his critiques of deputies.

But Wallace, who administrates the site, said Farrens was banned because of his continued use of profanity. Records show Farrens was warned not to use profanity, but continued to do so with some rather creative phrases.

Farrens was recently blocked from posting on the Whidbey News Group websites for violating the commenting guidelines.