A San Juan Mountains outfitter with a long list of legal problems reported to La Plata County jail on Monday to start serving a one-year sentence.

Keith Harper’s case dates to late 2011 when he was convicted of groping two women during a snowmobile outing in February of that year.

A San Juan County jury found him not guilty on a third similar charge.

Harper, of Durango, was sentenced on the groping charges in March 2012 to four years of probation, and he was required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Harper balked, saying he wasn’t guilty and wouldn’t accept probation without a fight.

He appealed, a procedure that dragged on until last month when Harper told San Juan County Court Judge Anthony Edwards he prefers jail time to probation.

Edwards obliged, sentencing him to one year in La Plata County jail.

Harper’s earlier run-ins with the law, in addition to the groping charges, involve operating in the backcountry with an expired license and filing a false report to a U.S. Forest Service special agent.

In February, Harper was sentenced to four months in county jail for operating his business on federal land without a valid permit. He also was sentenced to one year of probation.

In November 2012, U.S. District Court Magistrate David West suspended a six-month sentence for Harper, who a month earlier had pleaded guilty to operating a guide service on an expired license.

West in early 2013, without a jury, found Harper guilty on five of six counts of conducting unauthorized guide services.

daler@durangoherald.com