New York Post

Officers’ DNA found on teen

Duo accused in van ‘rape’

- By SHAWN COHEN, EMILY SAUL and MAX JAEGER mjaeger@nypost.com

Two cops accused of handcuffin­g and raping a Brooklyn teen in a police van left their DNA on the alleged victim, genetic tests confirm, according to sources close to the investigat­ion.

“DNA samples taken from both suspects came back as a match when compared to the rape kits,” a law-enforcemen­t source said.

The 18-year-old, who on social media goes by the name Anna Chambers, claims two plaincloth­es officers found prescripti­on drugs in her purse during a Sept. 15 traffic stop, then cuffed her and took her into an unmarked police van, where one raped her and both forced her to perform oral sex in exchange for her freedom.

“You’ll spend three hours in the precinct. This is what you’re going to do for us, and we’ll let you go,” they allegedly told her, according to her lawyer, Michael David.

“There was zero consent,” David said. “The cops were over 6 feet tall. She’s very petite, like 5-2 and maybe 100 pounds. There’s nothing she could do.”

NYPD brass have stripped the two detectives, Richard Hall and Eddie Martins, of their guns and shields and placed them on modified duty — along with their supervisor, Sgt. John Espey, who was punished for failure to supervise — while the investigat­ion continues.

The detectives have said the sex was consensual.

The DNA evidence proves only that the three engaged in sex, not whether she was a willing participan­t.

Police Commission­er James O’Neill has said the detectives would “pay the price” if the rape allegation­s prove true.

There have been several high-profile rape cases where police were implicated in recent years.

Drunken off-duty cop Michael Peña flashed his service weapon at a Bronx teacher before forcing her into an ally and raping her at gunpoint in 2012. He is currently serving 75 years in prison.

And Officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata allegedly raped a drunken woman while she was passed out in her East Village home in 2008.

Those two officers were called to help the inebriated woman into her apartment, but she claimed they returned several times that night with one eventually raping her while the other acted as a lookout.

Moreno and Mata were cleared of rape charges, but both were convicted in 2011 of “official misconduct” for repeatedly reentering the woman’s apartment.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States