A Bronx cop accused of having sex with a 15-year-old prostitute refused to admit that he knew his victim — even when he was shown pictures of the two of them in bed together, investigators said Thursday.
In fact, Police Officer Raul Olmeda wouldn’t admit that he was the man having sex with the teen in the raunchy photos — which were found on his computer and cellphone, according to testimony made during his departmental trial.
“He said it wasn’t him in the photo,” Sgt. Michael Garcia of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau said, as Olmeda sat before him at the NYPD trial room at police headquarters.
The NYPD Advocates office, which prosecutes police misconduct, is pushing to get Olmeda fired. The department trial will determine if he should get kicked off the force.
Rape allegations for having sex with the minor, identified in court only as SG, will be adjudicated in Bronx criminal court at a later date.
Advocate Anna Krutaya said Olmeda, 40, claimed he couldn’t identify the furniture in his own home when confronted with the photos, which were taken in his bedroom and living room. Yet, when cops executed a search warrant at his address, the furniture in the photos was inside, she said.
Detectives allegedly found a series of salacious videos and photos on Olmeda’s home computer, along with a creepy PowerPoint presentation of other women with whom he had sex — a compilation he called “The List.”
Olmeda made his bold denials after he was confronted with an audio file of a recording where when he tells SG to “lay low” because Internal Affairs was investigating him. The recording was also found on his computer.
“Technically you are a minor,” Olmeda told the teen on the recording, according to Krutaya.
“This man, a man who swore an oath to protect the innocent — technically he doesn’t care,” Krutaya said during her summation. “This is a portrait of an individual who shouldn’t be allowed to put on a uniform like the fine men and women of this department.”
Prosecutors said Olmeda met SG last year through her 24-year-old sister Alexa, who he had dated.
After convincing Alexa to have a three-way with himself and SG, he began seeing the minor privately, paying her between $140 and $200 a tryst. He photographed and recorded the encounters, investigators said.
The teen told police of her relationship with Olmeda after she was arrested for prostitution.
The 4-year NYPD veteran was suspended after being charged with having sex with a minor and child endangerment charges on Oct. 11. He is currently out on bail.
He was re-suspended on Thursday when he refused to testify during his departmental trial.
SG’s father, Francisco Gonzalez, was called to the stand and had the arduous task of going through dozens of pictures of his daughter either nude or having sex with Olmeda so they could be properly identified.
“Yeah…that’s my daughter,” a pained Gonzalez said as he sat on the stand uncomfortably, thumbing through the lurid snapshots.
“I don’t consider him an officer,” Gonzalez said about Olmeda. “I know people who are real officers.”
Olmeda’s attorney, Stuart London, said all of the allegations stem from the teen who was encouraged to lie by Gonzalez so they could sue the city at a later date.
“There is a money rainbow in this case,” London said. “That’s their pure motivation in this moving forward.”
“They only thing that is clear is that the (victim) is a very troubled girl.”
Krutaya agreed with London.
“She is a troubled girl and troubled girls make perfect victims and perfect prey for people like Officer Olmeda,” she said.
A department commissioner will review the evidence and recommend a punishment to Police Commissioner James O’Neill, who will have the final say in Olmeda’s future in the department.
The NYPD won’t publicly release Olmeda’s sentence as it continues to cite Section 50-a of the state Civil Rights Law, which prevents the public disclosure of personnel records of uniformed officers. Olmeda would have to waive the rule if the decision was to be made public.
Olmeda is due back in Bronx Criminal Court on the felony charges May 1.
Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-isn-bed-teen-photos-surfaced-article-1.3836665