Packing again

Correction officer in wife beef gets gun back

A CITY correction officer accused of putting a tracking device inside her wife’s purse and repeatedly harassing a neighbor has been allowed to keep her gun and work in a specialized jail unit.

Officer Erika Fontana’s wife told cops she discovered the device when cleaning out her pocketbook, according to a Sept. 8 police report the Daily News obtained.

“She thinks her wife put it in her bag because it is not the first time ... but did not see her place it there,” the police report says. “(Fontana) admitted to placing previous tracking devices.”

Fontana (photo inset), 38, who works for the Correction Department’s selective K-9 unit, denies trying to spy on her wife or harassing others.

Still, the jail officer’s gun was taken away by jail brass after the incident.

But no criminal charges were ever filed and the Correction Department returned the weapon after reviewing the matter, according to a jail source.

“We take every claim against our officers seriously,” said department spokesman Peter Thorne. “The situation was investigated and the department now considers the matter closed.”

On Tuesday, Fontana’s wife, Michelle, who works for the NYPD, denied she told cops her spouse was trying to spy on her.

“The police report is inaccurate,” Michelle Fontana said. “There was no dispute. There was no harassment.”

Critics point out that the NYPD regularly yanks gun licenses from private citizens involved in similar incidents, even if they do not lead to charges.

“The NYPD is very strict,” said New York City gun lawyer Jerold Levine. “If there’s any accusation made against a licensee that they have acted in a threatening manner, they will absolutely suspend the license immediately.”

“Government employees in certain positions are held to a different standard than ordinary citizens,” he added.

Most recently, Fontana was accused of harassing her wife by a Hometown Bar-B-Que in Red Hook, Brooklyn, on Aug. 30 at 9:30 p.m., a police report says.

“I will find you,” she threatened, according to the report.

Nineteen days earlier, her wife’s friend complained to police that Fontana was knocking on her door in search of her wife in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, the NYPD report shows. Fontana was also accused of banging on neighbors’ doors, the police report says.

In June 2013, Fontana’s neighbor said the jail officer was harassing her by their homes in Prince’s Bay, Staten Island, NYPD records reveal.

“F--- you, fat a--, you wait!” Fontana allegedly said, according to the police report.

“You don’t know what I can do,” she also reportedly told the neighbor.

Police were called to that location three subsequent times following disputes with neighbors, police records show.

On Tuesday, Fontana stressed she was never criminally charged.

“There were verbal arguments between myself and a neighbor because they didn’t like the fact that I was a lesbian,” she added. “I was never approached by police. There were no cops that ever came to me.”

Fontana has been in the department’s K-9 unit for more than a year.

The unit has been in disarray for months after a member accused a colleague of sexually harassing her, multiple jail sources said. The department transferred the woman and man out of the unit, and later shipped out eight other officers.