A Providence, R.I., lieutenant who mistook an electronic game he found at police headquarters for an eavesdropping device has been demoted to patrol officer.

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Lt. John Kaya violated five regulations when he took the Blinky Blink to an outside agency rather than internal investigators, a disciplinary panel ruled.

While the panel rejected a 60-day suspension, it approved demoting the 26-year police veteran two ranks to patrol officer, the Providence (R.I.) Journal reported.

Kaya told the panel he feared top brass was eavesdropping on rank-and-file officers and cited two previous instances when bugs were found in a police computer and a clock.

Kaya was faulted for taking the device he found in February to the police union, which brought it to an outside company that said it was an eavesdropping device.

When Kaya turned the device over to Deputy Police Chief Paul Kennedy 4 1/2 days later, an investigation by state police and the FBI determined it was the Blinky Blink memory game made by Lincoln Beach Software of Ballwin, Mo.