Local Police Officer Convicted Of Molesting Young Girl

Former police officer from Midwood was convicted Wednesday of sexually abusing a young girl, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson announced.

Jacob Sabbagh, a 34-year-old Midwood resident, was arrested in December after his victim reported the abuse to authorities, according to the DA’s office. The girl, now 21, accused Sabbagh of repeatedly groping and fondling her — sometimes forcing her to do the same — when she was between 10 and 13 years old. Prosecutors said Sabbagh was a friend of the victim’s family and the abuse occurred while he stayed the night at their Flatbush home.

“This is a disturbing case where a young child was sexually abused and repeatedly violated by a family friend — now a police officer — whom she should have been able to trust. The victim had the courage to speak out against the abuser and we will now see that he is punished,” Thompson said in a press release.

Sabbagh joined the NYPD in 2009 and was assigned to the 61st Precinct, according to the DA’s office. He was stripped of his gun and badge after the allegations came to light, the New York Times reports.

Prosecutors say Sabbagh was secretly recorded admitting to the sexual abuse during a telephone conversation with the victim. The Daily News reports Sabbagh told his victim: “The past is in the past, you have to move on from this … this should have never happened, it was a mistake.”

The victim lived in Israel when she finally told her mother about the abuse, according to the Daily News. The family then brought the charges to Israeli authorities, who alerted the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

Sabbagh was convicted of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, second-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the DA’s office. He faces up to seven years in prison when sentenced in September.