A Norwich man with a history of violent and sexual crimes was removed from sex offender treatment at the January Center in Uncasville after an incident over the weekend and readmitted to prison after violating the terms of his probation.

John R. LaFemina, 40, had been sentenced in 2005 to serve 12 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation, for dragging a woman into the woods and sexually assaulting her on Dec. 25, 2003. Because it was a repeat offense, Judge Patrick J. Clifford ordered him to register as a sexual offender for life.

LaFemina's court file does not detail the alleged offense that led to his discharge Sunday from the January Center, a sex offender treatment facility on the grounds of the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center. The Department of Adult Probation arrested LaFemina without a warrant based on the new violation, according to his court file. He is now being housed in the prison portion of the Corrigan-Radgowski facility, according to the state Department of Correction.

At his arraignment Monday in New London Superior Court, Public Defender Bruce A. Sturman entered a formal denial to the probation violation charge. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein continued the case to April 9.

In the 2003 incident, LaFemina ran up behind a 22-year-old woman who was walking home after getting off the Foxwoods Resort Casino employee bus at the Norwich viaduct, according to court records. He followed the woman down River Avenue, where he covered her mouth with his hand, dragged her into the woods and attacked her sexually.

At the time, LaFemina was living at Serenity House, a Laurel Hill Avenue halfway house for recovering addicts. He had been convicted in 1998 of fourth-degree sexual assault after fondling the breasts of two teenage girls who lived in his Taftville neighborhood, according to The Day archive. At the time of his 1998 conviction, LaFemina, a Norwich native, was on probation for a second-degree assault conviction from 1996.

In 1992, when he was 17, LaFemina was arrested for charging at police with a large kitchen knife after barricading himself in a bedroom and threatening police and family members.