Metro

Ex-NYPD cops get 5 years’ probation for having sex with teen in custody

The two ex-NYPD officers who had sex with a teen in their custody were sentenced Thursday to five years’ probation — with one of the men blasting their accuser in court as a “disgrace to the #MeToo movement.”

Eddie Martins and Richard Hall received their promised sentence as part of a plea deal quietly hammered out in Brooklyn Supreme Court in August.

The disgraced former cops copped to 11 counts of felony bribe receiving and misdemeanor official conduct. They dodged charges that they raped the then-18-year-old, who uses the pseudonym Anna Chambers, while she was under arrest and handcuffed in their police van in 2017.

Before Judge Danny Chun handed down the sentence, both men made statements apologizing to their families — with Hall lacing into Chambers and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.





“The reality is that we didn’t do what [Chambers] and the district attorney said we did,” Hall said, reading from a statement. “But we are paying for it. You are a liar. You created this circus so you could sue us for $50 million.”

He added, “Only you, me and Eddie truly know what happened that night. Your version of events is a lie. You are a disgrace to the #MeToo movement.”

Hall, 34, then called out Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez by name.

“Eric Gonzalez, just as you are appalled by me and my behavior, I am seriously appalled by horrifically low level of ethics displayed by your office,” he said. “You knew she wasn’t raped but you charged us anyway.”





Prosecutors said Chambers had sex with Martins and performed a sex act on Hall — though she’s maintained that she was forcibly raped during her arrest on drug charges.

Assistant District Attorney Frank DeGaetano reiterated that Halls and Martins’ behavior was tantamount to rape and supported by DNA evidence. He noted that last year, Albany passed a law making it a crime for officers to have sex with in-custody suspects.

“Their behavior is considered to be rape,” DeGaetano told the judge. “The focus today should be on the defendants and their felonious behavior. What the defendants did was disgraceful and it was criminal.”

In accepting the plea deal in August, Chun said there was “criminal activity on both sides” of the case — and that the accuser could be considered guilty of offering a bribe.





On Thursday, he called the ex-cops’ punishment a “fair sentence” while also taking a shot at prosecutors.

“Perhaps an argument could be made that the People rushed in indicting the defendants,” Chun said. “To their credit, they did re-indict the case.”

Prosecutors previously asked for both men to be sentenced to one to three years.

Chambers’ civil suit against the city, Hall and Martins, 39, is still pending.

Her lawyer Michael David slammed the two men post-sentencing.

“I’m outraged. It’s a complete travesty of justice here,” he said. “Blame the victim. That’s what happened here. These guys really got away with it.”

Chambers was not in court Thursday.

In a statement, Gonzalez said, “These defendants lost their jobs and are now convicted felons because of the appalling abuse of power to which they admitted. This incident led to a change in New York law, closing a loophole that allowed officers to claim that sex with a detainee was consensual. Unfortunately, we could not apply that new law retroactively. While my Office recommended prison time, we accept the Court’s sentence.”

Additional reporting by Lia Eustachewich





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