Officer resigns after allegedly sending explicit pictures to woman

OHIO TOWNSHIP, Pa. — An Ohio Township police officer resigned Friday morning after allegedly sending sexually explicit pictures to a woman, Channel 11 News has confirmed.

Officer Dominic DeJulio’s resignation came one day after the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office dropped DUI charges against the Monroeville woman to whom he allegedly sent the pictures.

Channel 11’s Renee Wallace 

DeJulio had been suspended for five days, Channel 11 News learned.

Channel 11's Renee Wallace confirmed DeJulio's resignation with Chief Norbert Micklos.

Officials in Ohio Township would not talk on-camera, but told Channel 11, "As of April 27, 2018, Officer DeJulio has submitted his resignation to the Ohio Township Police Department effective immediately."

The criminal case against Michelle Benninger was dropped when the sexually explicit pictures came to light.

"The police officer became very friendly with her and somehow got her cellphone number," said Benninger's attorney, Patrick Thomassey. "Before she knew it, she was being texted nude photos of him."

DeJulio charged Benninger last August with driving drunk after she allegedly failed field sobriety tests during a checkpoint on Ohio River Blvd.

Even though her blood alcohol was over the limit, charges against her were dropped. The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office sent Channel 11 this statement:

"Because the defendant in this case who then became a victim of the subsequent unprofessional behavior of the arresting official did not wish to pursue criminal charges against the arresting officer our office did not feel it was appropriate to move forward with the DUI case in which she would've had to once again deal with that unprofessional behavior in the context of testimony on the DUI charges."

"She's not vindictive at all, my client; she certainly feels bad, but she didn't ask for this," Thomassey said.

The district attorney's office told Channel 11 the officer's credibility is not in question, so they are not concerned with any cases he would have moving forward.

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