TUPPER LAKE — A former Sunmount employee, accused of abusing a developmentally disabled resident in May, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge on Wednesday.

Lukas Matthews, 22, of Tupper Lake, was arrested May 23 based on the accusation that he grabbed a Sunmount resident by the neck and threatened him on May 19. Matthews was initially charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of an incompetent person, a class E felony, and criminal obstruction of breathing, a class A misdemeanor. This week he pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree aggravated harassment, a class A misdemeanor.

“Matthews grabbed him by his neck with both hands, and threw him down onto his bed,” state police spokeswoman Trooper Jennifer Fleishman wrote in May, citing the victim’s statement to police. “Matthews held the victim down on the bed and threatened him with a clenched fist.”

While the initial charges were for physical actions, second-degree aggravated harassment deals with a verbal threat of physical harm.

Matthews faces up to a year in jail, the maximum for a class A misdemeanor. Sunmount fired him soon after he was charged.