A former police chief is now behind bars after being charged with sexually assaulting a patient at a rehabilitation center in Donegal, Pennsylvania. John E. Berger, who once headed the Ligonier Valley Police Department, was arrested on Friday and is being held at the Westmoreland County Jail on a $100,000 bail.
The authorities arrested Berger after accusations surfaced about his assaulting a patient at DreamLife Recovery, an addiction rehab facility at which he had previously been a patient. He had been working there since he lost his job as police chief in May 2023 after a federal raid on the department.
Investigators say Berger first met the victim last year when they were both patients at DreamLife.
She told police, “Berger would make unwanted sexual advances towards her almost weekly if not daily.”
The police report states those advances resumed starting in March when the…
