A civil case against a Bermuda resident accused of sexually assaulting a college colleague in the US before fleeing the country has been dismissed by a judge in Texas.

However, Franklin Wellington Fahnbulleh III could still face arrest if he ever returns to the US in respect of two third-degree felony charges relating to the same matter.

In the civil case, Mr. Fahnbulleh, who is married to a Bermudian and is believed to be living in Southampton, was accused of sexual assault against a former colleague at the Howard College in Howard County, Texas.

He was initially charged with a criminal misdemeanor for public lewdness for an incident said to have happened on November 8, 2002 involving the college's former accounts clerk Dana Turner.

At the time Mr. Fahnbulleh was dean of the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf.

He was released on a $1,200 bond and is thought to have returned to Bermuda before a Howard County grand jury indicted him on the more serious counts of third-degree felony for using force or restraint to prevent a government official doing their duty.

With the criminal case stalled because Mr. Fahnbulleh could not be tracked down by the US authorities, Mrs. Turner, now 57, and her husband brought the separate civil action through a district court in Texas against the absent Mr. Fahnbulleh.

This civil action has now been dismissed by US Judge Harry Lee Hudspeth.

Despite the civil action being dismissed the criminal case against Mr. Fahnbulleh remains active. The Howard Country district court's felony department this week confirmed the felony charges were still on file.

Mr. Fahnbulleh, who is known as Wellington, is married to the president of the Bermuda Islands Association for the Deaf Jennifer Fahnbulleh.