Atlantic City officer indicted in K-9 arrest now accused of assault on son's mother

An Atlantic City police officer facing federal charges in an arrest that left a man needing 200 stitches was arrested this weekend for allegedly assaulting his son's mother in their Margate home.

Sterling Wheaten is charged with making terroristic threats and endangering/abuse/neglect of a child by caregiver, according to court records. He also faces a disorderly persons charge of simple assault.

The woman, whose name was not released, told police that Wheaten "head butted her and grabbed her around the head and back of the neck, while shaking her and threatening to stop her breathing," according to the affidavit obtained by BreakingAC.

She also told police that Wheaten dragged her, causing bruising to her thigh and re-injuring her knee. The officer wrote that he observed redness to the back of her neck, a bruise on her thigh and bleeding.

The attack was done in the presence of their child, resulting in the child endangering charge.

He was booked at the Atlantic County Justice Facility and released that same day, Atlantic County spokeswoman Linda Gilmore said. Under bail reform, domestic cases are given a number through the Ontario Domestic Violence Risk Assessment, or ODARA. The number is not public, but determines whether a suspect is released on a summons or held on a warrant, and determines if a detention hearing is held.

Margate police would not even release the charges, saying it was "an ongoing investigation."

An Open Public Records Request that BreakingAC filed with Margate on Monday was referred to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office after the courts closed.

Wheaten has a court hearing scheduled for Nov. 13.

He already is suspended without pay in the federal case, which came five years after his K-9 partner bit Connor Castellani several times during an arrest.

Castellani needed more than 200 stitches to close up wounds to his head. A grand jury in Atlantic County Superior Court cleared Wheaten and other officers involved in the arrest, which was captured on Tropicana security cameras in a video that went viral.

A civil jury awarded Castellani $3 million in the case.

After his suspension, Wheaten filed a lawsuit against the city to continue receiving his pay. He claims that Police Chief Henry White told him he would still get paid.

Meanwhile, Wheaten's legal bills are piling up, according to a posting on the National Police Defense Fund, asking for donations to help the officer in his case of "selective prosecution."