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The former chief executive officer for ticket reseller TicketNework Inc. in South Windsor has been given two years of probation for using a racial slur during an altercation with a bouncer outside an Academy Awards party,. The Associated Press reports.

The Hartford Courant reports that Donald Vaccaro was accepted Tuesday into the state's Accelerated Rehabilitation program, which allows first-time offenders to have their criminal history wiped clean once they successfully complete their probation.

Vaccaro, of Glastonbury, was charged intimidation based on bigotry or bias and several misdemeanors after the Feb. 27 encounter.

A bouncer told police Vaccaro addressed him with a racial slur while being escorted from a party after a woman complained the 49-year-old executive had fondled her. The arrest warrant said his speech was slightly slurred, leading an officer to believe he was "mildly intoxicated."

Vaccaro took an indefinite leave from the ticket-reselling company after his arrest and said his actions didn't reflect his values.

The arrest led TicketNetwork Inc. to withdraw from the state's highly touted "First Five" initiative. That program was established to give state tax credits to the first five businesses investing $25 million in Connecticut and creating 200 jobs over five years.

TicketNetwork was the third company to win incentives, announcing last summer up to $7.75 million in loans in exchange for keeping 292 jobs, creating at least 200 full-time jobs in two years and possibly up to 600 over the next 10 years.

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