BY BRUNO MATARAZZO JR.
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
NAUGATUCK — A Naugatuck town employee’s criminal record will be wiped clean if he stays out of trouble in the next two years.
A judge allowed Michael Pereira to take part in two diversionary programs, accelerated rehabilitation and family violence education program.
Pereira has been arrested several times in the past year.
His latest arrest was Feb. 24 when he was charged with violating a protective order.
The town employee was arrested last May for two counts of breach of peace in the second-degree and two counts of public indecency.
Pereira is accused of exposing himself in a park in one incident and acting inappropriately with an elderly woman in the borough and masturbating on her front porch.
In January, Pereira was arrested following an hourlong standoff with Naugatuck, Prospect and state police.
When police officers attempted to make contact with Pereira, he armed himself with a handgun and barricaded himself inside the residence, police said. He later surrendered.
Authorities recovered the firearms and no injuries occurred in the stand off.
Prosecutors put several conditions on Pereira to take part in the domestic violence program.
He has to receive a psychiatric evaluation and treatment and continue to comply with a protective order.
Attorney Leonard M. Crone thanked the state’s attorney’s office for the time they spent on the case.
“I told Mr. Pereira that if he completes these programs, he’s going to come out of this with no record and he’s going to move on with his life,” Crone said.
