Two New York Police Department detectives have been arrested after being accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in their custody.
NYPD detectives Edward Martins and Richard Hall face charges of raping a Brooklyn woman they had detained in a police van after finding her in possession of marijuana and anti-anxiety pills. Both officers pleaded not guilty on Monday to a 50-count indictment that included rape, official misconduct and kidnapping charges, according to The New York Times.
Martins and Hall allegedly handcuffed the woman, put her in the back of a van and then asked her what she would do to avoid arrest, according to prosecutor Frank DeGaetano’s statement in court Monday.
DeGaetano told the court Martins forced the woman to perform oral sex on him and then raped her while Hall drove the van. Afterward, the prosecutor said, the detectives switched places, and Hall also forced himself on the woman. The men allegedly dropped her off blocks from the station, made her take one of her anti-anxiety pills and told her to “keep her mouth shut.”
A rape kit tested after the incident showed evidence of both Martins’ and Hall’s sperm, DeGaetano said.
Martins and Hall have said that any sex between the detectives and the woman was consensual. The lawyers for the detectives, Mark Bederow and John Arlia, say there is little evidence of physical force, The New York Post reports.
Bederow and Arlia have been accused of trying to smear the victim’s credibility as a part of their defense.
“She has posted Instagram videos of herself using drugs and rapping in her ‘Fi5ty Milli’ persona about the case while joking about the millions that will be in her bank account,” Arlia and Bederow wrote to the Brooklyn District Atttorney’s Office in a letter obtained by The Post.
The detectives have been released on bail and face up to 25 years in prison, according to NBC News. The NYPD has suspended both men without pay.
“She feels helpless and depressed, and she stays in a room all day,” the victim’s attorney, Michael David, told People. “She was planning to go to college next semester, but she won’t be doing that anymore.”