WOODVILLE — Woodville Police Chief Jesse Stewart was convicted Thursday of simple assault, according to the Mississippi Attorney General’s office.

Stewart, 62, was ordered by Justice Court Judge Roger Arnold to pay a $500 fine and $127.50 in court costs for slapping a probation officer on the buttocks while she was at the police station, a press release said.

Stewart has been on unpaid administrative leave since the fall of 2011, when the complaint against him was filed.

Stewart had been the chief for approximately three years at the time of his suspension.

Calvin Gaines was appointed as the interim chief in 2011.

Investigators from the attorney general’s office handled the case after the prosecutors and judges in Wilkinson County recused themselves from the case.