SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A Syracuse cop accused of beating and threatening to kill his girlfriend quietly resigned from the force earlier this year as his legal troubles mounted in a sprawling domestic abuse case.

Ahmad H. Mims, 35, resigned from the Syracuse Police Department on Jan. 4, syracuse.com/The Post-Standard has learned. Mims’ resignation came two weeks after he was charged with a felony for violating a restraining order from a former girlfriend -- his third arrest in three months.

Mims had been with the department since 2011 and was a member of the highly active Crime Reduction Team, a specialized unit tasked with disrupting the city’s most violent criminal networks.

He was suspended Sept. 17 after state police arrested him twice and charged him with assault, menacing and criminal weapon possession. A criminal complaint accused him of beating up his girlfriend on multiple occasions and holding his gun to her head while drunk. Two months later, he was arrested again for violating the restraining order.

After the felony arrest in December, a police spokesman said Mims would remain suspended, with pay, until his criminal cases were resolved. That would have taken more than five months. Instead, Mims resigned several weeks later.

Mims pleaded guilty to third degree assault in Lake George earlier this month and pleaded guilty to second degree menacing in the Town of Cicero last week. Both charges are misdemeanors. He is scheduled to be sentenced in both courts on May 16.

According to a court clerk in Lake George, Mims recently moved to North Carolina and is no longer living in the area.

Mims is still facing a felony contempt of court charge for the restraining order violation. That case was referred to a grand jury on Jan. 24 and is still unresolved, according to the Town of Clay court.

During a court hearing in December, Mims’ lawyer, Eric Jeschke, said Mims had surrendered all his guns and was seeking counseling for psychiatric problems.