41°
Brian Potter, 43, was driving a township truck when Hawthorne police said they busted him in January.
Potter had been freed by a judge in Hackensack pending trial four years ago after Bergen County prosecutor's detectives charged him with sexually assaulting the girl.
One of the stipulations of his release was that Potter refrain from consuming drugs or alcohol.
Potter was stopped on Lafayette Avenue in Hawthorne after a caller reported a 2012 Ford F350 truck bearing a “Township of Mahwah” logo being driven erratically, according to a Jan. 21 police report.
“The officers noticed an odor of an alcoholic beverage from the vehicle,” Detective Lt. Matthew Hoogmoed said Thursday.
Potter, who told them he was headed home from work, was “unable to pass the field sobriety tests and was arrested,” Hoogmoed said.
The divorced father of three had been allowed to take the truck home because he was on on call with the Water & Sewer Utilities division of the Mahwah Department of Public Works, township officials said Thursday.
He’s been confined to inside work since his arrest in Hawthorne, they said.
Hawthorne police charged Potter with DWI, DWI in a school zone and careless driving, Hoogmoed said. They released him to a responsible adult, under John's Law, and had Mahwah retrieve the truck.
A Superior Court judge in Hackensack is scheduled to hear a request by Pre-Trial Services to revoke Potter's bail on March 18, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Elizabeth R. Rebein said Thursday.
Detectives from the prosecutor’s office charged Potter on on July 7, 2017 with “inappropriately touching” a young girl four months earlier.
The official counts are aggravated sexual assault involving a victim under 13, sexual assault also involving a victim under 13 and child endangerment through "sexual conduct."
SEE: Mahwah Township Employee Charged With Sexually Abusing Girl, 10
Potter spent 10 days in the Bergen County Jail before a judge in Hackensack determined that he wasn’t a threat to the community and released him, with conditions, pending trial on the charges.
Those conditions, among others, included not having any contact with the victim and not consuming drugs or alcohol.
Potter, who had no previous criminal record and a history of stable employment in his department, was initially granted a six-month leave of absence that required he use sick and vacation days.
He continued working for the township following his release but is no longer with the fire department, officials said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Washington Township and receive free news updates.
