Attorney for Jeannette officer seeks probationary program in case of false traffic stop reports

The attorney representing a Jeannette police officer accused of falsifying reports related to traffic stops said he hopes to get his client into a probationary program.

Matthew S. Painter, 40, of Penn Township, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Wednesday on 18 misdemeanor counts. There was no agreement struck with prosecutors, said attorney Patrick Thomassey.

“I’m hoping the DA would consider the ARD program for him,” he said, referring to the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for first-time, nonviolent offenders that allows participants to have their case dismissed and possibly their record expunged if they complete all court-ordered requirements. Participation in the program does not require a guilty plea.

Thomassey indicated that option may allow Painter to continue working in law enforcement. Painter is on unpaid administrative leave.

Several prosecution witnesses appeared in Jeannette district court Wednesday morning for the scheduled preliminary hearing. Painter was charged in October with 18 counts of tampering with records after police Chief Derek Manley reported to Westmoreland County detectives in July inconsistencies in 18 of Painter’s reports from traffic stops, according to court papers. In all of those instances, the reports list the driver, vehicle, license plate, a date and time of the purported traffic stop and infraction, with all of the drivers let go with a verbal warning, police said.

Detectives used body-worn cameras and cameras and GPS in patrol units to determine Painter did not conduct the traffic stops as he reported between June 18 and July 1, according to court papers. Detectives said they talked to three of the people who reportedly were pulled over and learned they had not been subject to a traffic stop by a Jeannette officer at the times, dates and locations in Painter’s reports.

Thomassey said Painter has been a good police officer and never been in trouble before.

“There’s a lot more to this case than I can talk about right now,” he said.

Emails obtained by the Trib under the state’s Right-to-Know Law showed that now-retired police chief Donald Johnston Jr. informed officers in September 2023 that Mayor Curtis Antoniak wanted them to have at least 20 documented traffic contacts a month. Manley referred to that directive in an April email to officers and said it would be strictly enforced.

Painter was hired in Jeannette in 2021 after leaving the Uniontown Police Department, where he was a police dog handler. His dog briefly worked for the Jeannette force, and Painter filed a lawsuit against the city in June claiming it violated labor laws by not paying him an overtime rate for time spent caring for the canine. That suit is still pending.

He was making $30.19 per hour in 2024 and $45.29 in hourly overtime.