(03-16) 17:34 PDT SAN JOSE -- A former San Jose police officer pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of molesting two teenage boys, according to the Santa Clara District Attorney's office.
Patrick D'Arrigo, 44, faces a maximum of three years and eight months in state prison for one count of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor age 14 or 15 and one count of oral copulation with a minor, said Deputy District Attorney Stuart Scott. He will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
D'Arrigo was arrested on Aug. 31 for molesting a 15- and 17-year-old in his Gilroy home. He had met a group of high school boys on Craigslist, Scott said.
D'Arrigo joined the San Jose police department in 1994. In 2008, he was one of two officers accused of covering up a drunken-driving crash involving a district attorney's investigator. The district attorney's office took the case to a grand jury, which opted not to indict D'Arrigo or the other officer.
He was placed on administrative leave in July 2008 and fired in January 2010 because of the incident. He appealed the decision and was reinstated in December 2010.
His attorney did not return calls for a comment.
D'Arrigo resigned from the San Jose police department on Feb. 28, said Officer Jose Garcia, a spokesman.
"We are glad Mr. D'Arrigo is being held accountable for his actions, and the victims are in our thoughts," he said in an e-mail. Scott said he plans to argue "for significant jail time" for D'Arrigo.
"You got multiple victims, and you got a person who was a police officer at the time the acts took place," he said. "Although there's no evidence that he used color of authority during the time, he's someone we want to make sure is held responsible for that sort of dereliction of duty."
D'Arrigo is scheduled to return to court on April 30 for sentencing.
Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Twitter: @VivianHo. vho@sfchronicle.com