A former Forks Township police officer accused of assaulting his girlfriend was readmitted Friday into a state probationary program for first-time offenders, a move that will again allow him to avoid a criminal record.
Ernest D. Fimiano Jr., 44, of Palmer Township had been booted earlier from the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program after Northampton County Judge Paula Roscioli said she was unaware he was in law enforcement and had a drunken-driving charge pending in another county.
Fimiano was charged with simple assault and criminal mischief in the Dec. 24, 2007, fight with his girlfriend at her Forks Township home. He was accused of pushing Patricia Reilly into walls and breaking her cell phone during the dispute.
Fimiano was accepted into ARD in Columbia County in October, about a year after he was arrested on charges he led state troopers on a 40-mile chase east on Interstate 80 through Union, Northumberland, Montour and Columbia counties.
In Friday's hearing, Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Taschner said someone placed into ARD for drunken driving is not ineligible for the program on other first-offense charges.
Reilly, who is now Fimiano's ex-girlfriend, wrote a letter also asking that he be let into the program. She said he has already been punished through the loss of his reputation, his livelihood and his driver's license.
''Isn't that enough?'' Reilly asked.
Forks police suspended Fimiano, a member of the force since 1999, after the drunken-driving arrest. He resigned a month after he was charged with assaulting Reilly.
In court, his attorney, Gregory Paglianite, said he doubts Fimiano will return to law enforcement soon, given the charges that were against him. He said the police chase was not as serious as has been described, and noted that Fimiano was hit by a car in April in an accident that landed him in the hospital.
Roscioli said she was satisfied that the probationary program was appropriate for Fimiano. She stressed that he is no longer a police officer, saying she had worried he had access to guns.
''That makes a big difference to me,'' Roscioli said. ''That was a major concern that I had.''
The ARD program allows first-time offenders to have the charges against them dropped provided they complete a period of probation and community service and pay fines and court costs. Roscioli also ordered Fimiano to have no weapons.
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