A Queen Anne’s County deputy sheriff accused of groping a woman inside his patrol car near Chesapeake City in 2009 must serve three years of probation after accepting a plea. John Dennis Hofmann the 39-year-old brother of Queen Anne’s County Sheriff R.G. Hofmann pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, according to Cecil County Circuit Court records. Visiting Judge J. Frederick Price accepted Hofmann’s guilty plea before striking the guilty verdict and granting him probation before judgment. In exchange for Hofmann’s guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed a related charge of fourth-degree sex offense. The judge placed Hofmann on three years of supervised probation, which requires him to successfully complete a “domestic violence and/or any sensitivity training” deemed necessary by probation officers, court records show.
Price also ordered Hofmann to have no contact with the woman, according to court records. In addition, the judge noted that Hofmann’s probation could become unsupervised once he successfully completes the mandatory education program, court records show. Because the probation before judgment verdict doesn’t appear on Hofmann’s criminal record, he is eligible to remain employed by the Queen Anne’s County Sheriff’s Office, according to Lt. Dale L. Patrick, a sheriff’s office spokesman.
Patrick reported that Hofmann returned to duty several weeks ago at the end of a departmental investigation and retained his rank of corporal. Because such an administrative investigation is considered a “personnel matter,” Patrick said he could not say what, if any, disciplinary action was taken against Hofmann. Hofmann was placed on administrative leave with pay in August, when the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office filed the two criminal charges against him. Although Hofmann was allowed to return to duty, last week’s resolution of his criminal case determined that he would remain eligible to stay on the force.
According to police, Hofmann was accused of sexually assaulting a 33-year-old woman on August 25, 2009 while traveling south on Augustine Herman Highway. Hofmann was driving with the woman in the passenger seat of his patrol car, as he returned from an unspecified assignment in Cecil County. Police and prosecutors have declined to detail the incident and how it came to light. On August 23, 2010, two days before a one-year statute of limitations on sexual assault charges was set to expire, prosecutors charged Hofmann by way of criminal information, a document that includes scant, general information about the case.