Police say federal corrections officer from northeastern Pennsylvania choked and stabbed woman during photo op

A federal corrections officer strangled a woman and slashed her abdomen with a knife during the attack while she was on her way to a New Jersey location for a photo shoot, the Morris County New Jersey District Attorney’s Office said Monday.

Patrick J. O’Kane, 45, of Exeter, Luzerne County, is charged with three counts of aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and related firearms charges in connection with the Oct. 5 attack in Mount Olive.

Authorities said O’Kane and the woman, who works for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, went to a campsite with a photographer for a photo shoot.

While en route, the two began arguing over a text message the woman received, authorities said.

The prosecutor’s office said the argument escalated and O’Kane strangled the woman, cut her stomach and pointed a gun at her, threatening her life.

Authorities did not say exactly where the incident occurred and declined to provide details.

Court and jail records show O’Kane was arrested the day of the alleged attack and has been in the Morris County jail since Oct. 6.

Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll issued a statement noting the seriousness of domestic violence and stating that the officers who arrested O’Kane “made skillful use of police de-escalation techniques.”

O’Kane’s attorney information was not immediately available.

O’Kane is currently a correctional officer assigned to the United States Penitentiary Canaan in Waymart, Pennsylvania. The Bureau of Prisons said his annual salary was $141,735.

The agency said it does not comment on an employee’s employment status or matters that are the subject of legal proceedings.