A high-ranking Penn State executive who served as a member of the President’s Council was charged Monday with a felony count of strangulation after an argument with a woman turned physical.
Keith Brautigam, the university’s interim vice president for information technology and chief information officer, was charged after a fight on Sunday at a Patton Township home, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.
The woman told investigators she could not breathe and thought she was going to die, police wrote. She told emergency dispatchers she had a broken tooth.
The university is “aware of the serious charges” against Brautigam, Penn State spokesman Wyatt DuBois wrote in a statement Monday. He was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of a hearing.
A message left with Brautigam, 44, was not immediately returned Tuesday. No defense lawyer was listed. He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of harassment.
The woman was “extremely emotional and crying” when officers arrived, police wrote. She said a verbal argument turned physical, leading to both of them ending up on the floor.
Brautigam was accused of strangling the woman, leaving her neck bruised and her skin red and irritated. He told an officer he “lost physical control of his body and may have choked her,” police wrote.
Brautigam was arraigned Monday by District Judge Casey McClain. He was released on $50,000 unsecured bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Brautigam stepped into his role in June. He was tasked with leading the university’s IT department, a position that provides leadership for the university’s 1,200 IT professionals across all colleges, campuses and administrative units.
He joined the university in 2014.