In March, two rookie NYPD officers made headlines after they were indicted by Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz for felony crimes, including robbing and groping an alleged sex worker in an apartment on Roosevelt Avenue the previous summer.
The details in the indictment are disturbing. On a night in July 2024, the two officers, Justin McMillan and Justin Colon, both with just a few months on the job, and working out of the 115th Precinct on Northern Boulevard, allegedly turned off their body-worn cameras and stole a key from a purported sex worker to an 89th Street apartment where they suspected sex work was taking place.
According to the indictment, hours after stealing the key, with their body cameras still turned off, the two cops entered the apartment, which was reportedly being used as a brothel, and McMillan allegedly robbed a woman in the apartment, taking cash from her purse, and then sexually assaulted her.
"They shut the lights off, went in with their flashlights on in the dark, took money from her and…McMillan groped her breast and her buttocks," Assistant District Attorney Christine Oliveri said in court during the indictment proceedings.
The woman immediately called 911 to report the incident, which set off the Internal Affairs Bureau investigation that ultimately resulted in the indictments of McMillan and Colon. The cops were charged with burglary and forcible touching. If found guilty, the two faced up to 15 years in prison.
At the time, DA Katz said that "the allegations in this case are an affront to the shield worn by the countless police officers who serve and protect the residents of this city."
In a statement after McMillan and Colon were arrested, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said, "Let me be perfectly clear: Any officer who violates their oath will be investigated, exposed, and held fully accountable. That standard will never change."
But the case against McMillan and Colon won't be going any further.