Middletown — Fired Old Saybrook Police Officer Joshua Zarbo has been granted accelerated rehabilitation that could dismiss a third-degree computer crime charge after an internal investigation found he used the department's system to get information about a woman he was interested in dating.

A Superior Court judge in Middletown approved Zarbo's request for the program Tuesday morning. If Zarbo stays out of trouble for one year and doesn't contact the victim, the charge will be dismissed and erased from his record, Judge Julia Dewey said.

Zarbo is embarrassed by the arrest and the negative attention the case has generated, his attorney Richard Lynch said.

"He accepts responsibility for his mistake in this case," said Lynch, who also pointed out his client lost his job and his career.

"He has had no other complaints as a police officer," Lynch said. "But he is a human being and he made a mistake."

Zarbo was terminated from his position as an Old Saybrook police officer in February, weeks after he was charged by his own department. He is also on the list for decertification as a police officer in Connecticut.

He pleaded not guilty in December and applied in March for the accelerated rehabilitation program.

A six-year veteran of the department, Zarbo is accused of misusing his access to the statewide police information system to obtain the identity of a woman he encountered while monitoring shoppers on Black Friday, according to a warrant for his arrest.

The 30-year-old Clinton resident sent a text message to an emergency dispatcher to check the woman's license plate to obtain her name and personal information, the warrant stated. The dispatcher told Zarbo he would have to request the information over the radio, the warrant said.

Zarbo then told the dispatcher he was "gaming" for a date when he requested the license plate information, according to the warrant.

Investigators construed Zarbo's response to mean he was seeking to contact the woman for a date, which would be an improper use of the system, the warrant said.

The dispatcher and Zarbo exchanged quips and crying with laughter smiley face emojis by text before the officer asked over the radio for the woman's license plate to be checked, the warrant said.

But the radio communication unraveled the date-seeking plot when the fire chief's wife heard the request and recognized the woman's name, according to the warrant.

The fire chief told the woman, who filed a complaint with police.