Two NYPD Cops Arrested For Raping Teen In Back Of Police Van
CONEY ISLAND – At approximately 7am Monday morning, two NYPD officers were arrested in connection to the rape of an 18-year-old woman they placed under arrest last month.
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced today that the two NYPD detectives have been charged in a 50-count indictment for allegedly raping the teenager in a police van in Coney Island in September after handcuffing her and placing her under arrest.
Richard Hall, 33, and Eddie Martins, 37, are being charged with first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act, second-degree kidnapping, sex abuse, coercion, sexual misconduct, forcible touching, official misconduct, unlawful imprisonment, and other offenses, according to police.
According to the investigation at approximately 7:30pm on September 15, the two on-duty officers were riding in a Dodge Caravan, working as plainclothes detectives for Brooklyn South Narcotics, and conducting a buy and bust operation in Coney Island. The two reportedly left their post without authorization and drove to Calvert Vaux Park in Gravesend.
Shortly after 8pm, the two officers pulled over an Infinity Coupe driven by an 18-year-old woman with two male passengers. The cops found marijuana in the front seat cup holder. According to the investigation, the officers ordered the three out of the car and asked if they had any drugs on them. The woman told them she had marijuana and two Klonopin pills. The detectives handcuffed the 18-year-old woman and told her she was under arrest. They let her two male friends go and instructed them to pick up the woman from the police precinct in three hours, investigators say.
After leaving the park, the officers allegedly told the woman to call her two friends and tell them not to follow them in the minivan. Detective Martins then allegedly told the handcuffed woman that he and Detective Hall are “freaks” and asked her what she was willing to do to get out of arrest, according to the investigation. Detective Martins then allegedly forced the handcuffed woman to perform a sex act on him in the back seat of the van as Detective Hall drove and watched from the rearview mirror. Detective Martins then allegedly raped the woman.
The officers then reportedly stopped the van in Bay Ridge and switched places, with Detective Martins taking the wheel and Detective Hall getting into the back seat of the van where he allegedly forced the teen to perform a sex act on him, according to the investigation. They then drove back to the 60th Precinct in Coney Island and had the victim call her two friends again and tell them she was being released. The officers reportedly gave her back the Klonopins, told her to keep her mouth shut, and released her.
The woman told her friends what happened after they picked her up and went to Maimonides Hospital later that evening where a sexual assault evidence collection kit was administered. DNA recovered from the woman was matched to both Officers Martins and Hall. Video surveillance footage also shows the woman exiting the police van at approximately 8:42pm.
The two officers were arraigned on Monday at Brooklyn Supreme Court. Martins is being held on $250,000 bail and Hall on $150,000 bail. Both officers were ordered to return to court on January 18, 2018. If convicted, they each face up to 25 years in prison.
