A uniformed cop accused of raping an East Village woman in her apartment tried to hide from a surveillance camera while using a key to enter her building, sources said yesterday.
But what he didn’t appear to know was that there was a second camera catching his and his partner’s every move before and after the alleged sexual assault, the sources said.
The NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau is investigating a claim that the patrolman raped an intoxicated business executive after the cop and his partner responded to a cabdriver’s 911 plea for help with his drunken passenger, the sources said.
Several sources identified the cops as Kenneth Moreno, a 17-year NYPD veteran who is married with two kids, and Franklin L. Mata, who has been on the force for three years.
The cops helped the disoriented woman to her fifth-floor apartment shortly after midnight on Dec. 7, and later returned to check on her condition, the sources said.
But when they came back a second time, Moreno allegedly raped the woman as his partner stood by, the sources said.
Moreno and Mata were caught on tape by a surveillance camera outside a bar called Heather’s on East 13th Street, near the victim’s apartment building.
The cops escorted the woman into the building at about 1 a.m. and stayed seven minutes before leaving, according to the bar’s owner, Heather Millstone, who saw the tape.
They came back about 40 minutes later and stayed for 20 minutes, she said.
Then they came back 20 minutes later for a third time and stayed another 40 minutes, she added.
“When they leave the second time, one notices the camera, and they do their best to avoid the camera,” Millstone said. “It’s as plain as day. When they enter the building the third time, they’re specifically out of camera range.”
One of the cops appeared to use a key to enter on the third visit, at 3 a.m., Millstone said, while other sources also said a key belonging to the victim was used to gain entry.
The victim, who had been having drinks with female colleagues, told a friend about the alleged attack later that day and called the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, a source said.
Moreno and Mata were not arrested, but they were put on modified duty Dec. 19, according to NYPD records.
“It is a very serious charge, obviously,” Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. “I don’t want to prejudice anything.”
The victim got to see the tape for herself.
“She had a sense of vindication,” Millstone said.
Investigators searched the cops’ station-house lockers and found heroin as well as personal information of other women in the locker of the older cop, the sources said.
Both tested negative for illegal drugs, officials said. The cops met with prosecutors, but have refused to answer questions, according to the sources.
Additional reporting by Ted Phillips