An NYPD cop yesterday admitted to investigators that his partner raped a drunken woman - and that he himself stood by after they escorted the defenseless victim into her East Village apartment, The Post has learned.
Officer Franklin Mata's shocking about-face - he had previously insisted 17-year NYPD veteran Kenneth Moreno had consensual sex with the woman - seals the case being prepared against his partner, a married father of two, sources told The Post.
Investigators had scoffed at Mata's original version of events in the East 13th Street apartment early Dec. 7, because witnesses and other evidence proved the woman was extremely intoxicated and unable to consent to sex, the sources said.
Mata, a three-year NYPD veteran, said he'll testify against his partner should the case go to trial, the sources said. Mata doesn't have a deal with the DA's office, they said.
Moreno, 41, is being probed by the Manhattan DA's sex-crimes unit and the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau not only for the alleged rape, but also over a bag of heroin found in his locker on Dec. 19.
Although Moreno claims he forgot to voucher the heroin after seizing it in an unrelated case, the dope was found tightly wrapped in a package hidden in a cigarette box, sources said yesterday.
Meanwhile, sources detailed the alleged deception to cover up the attack.
Moreno and Mata were on duty when they escorted the woman into her apartment after a cabby called 911 because she was drunk and vomiting in his taxi after a night out boozing.
But investigators believe the cops returned in secret to the apartment twice more - staying up to 40 minutes during each visit over the next few hours. A nearby security camera video caught their images.
It was during their third visit that Moreno allegedly raped the woman, the sources said.
Law-enforcement sources point out that a timeline of the cops' whereabouts the night of the incident suggests they were trying to cover their tracks.
After the initial stop at the woman's apartment, the cops were sent on a "radio run" to deal with an accident.
Rather than report the end of the run, however, they went to the woman's apartment for a second time, using the run as a coverup, sources believe.
They returned a third time, allegedly to rape her.
The woman, who awoke hours later, in pain and with signs of trauma, contacted authorities and was treated at Beth Israel Hospital.
The ruse over the radio run was exposed when investigators compared time stamps on the surveillance video with the call to end the run, sources said.
The video also shows them trying to avoid a camera while entering the building, and using a key believed to be the woman's to enter.
On Dec. 19, both cops were placed on modified duty, stripped of their guns and badges.
When investigators asked Mata for his memo book - which should have contained details of the cops' movements and interactions on the night of the alleged rape - he claimed to have lost it, raising suspicions.
"The younger cop's memo book is missing," a source said. "He may have made entries that are false."
The alleged victim and her roommate have since left the city, sources said.
A man who identified himself as Moreno's brother-in-law, speaking outside the cop's Sunset Park, Brooklyn, home, called the officer, "a great father to his kids. He's a great cop, and a great husband." Dublin Core Metadata elements:
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Officer Franklin Mata's shocking about-face - he had previously insisted 17-year NYPD veteran Kenneth Moreno had consensual sex with the woman - seals the case being prepared against his partner, a married father of two, sources told The Post.
Investigators had scoffed at Mata's original version of events in the East 13th Street apartment early Dec. 7, because witnesses and other evidence proved the woman was extremely intoxicated and unable to consent to sex, the sources said.
Mata, a three-year NYPD veteran, said he'll testify against his partner should the case go to trial, the sources said. Mata doesn't have a deal with the DA's office, they said.
Moreno, 41, is being probed by the Manhattan DA's sex-crimes unit and the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau not only for the alleged rape, but also over a bag of heroin found in his locker on Dec. 19.
Although Moreno claims he forgot to voucher the heroin after seizing it in an unrelated case, the dope was found tightly wrapped in a package hidden in a cigarette box, sources said yesterday.
Meanwhile, sources detailed the alleged deception to cover up the attack.
Moreno and Mata were on duty when they escorted the woman into her apartment after a cabby called 911 because she was drunk and vomiting in his taxi after a night out boozing.
But investigators believe the cops returned in secret to the apartment twice more - staying up to 40 minutes during each visit over the next few hours. A nearby security camera video caught their images.
It was during their third visit that Moreno allegedly raped the woman, the sources said.
Law-enforcement sources point out that a timeline of the cops' whereabouts the night of the incident suggests they were trying to cover their tracks.
After the initial stop at the woman's apartment, the cops were sent on a "radio run" to deal with an accident.
Rather than report the end of the run, however, they went to the woman's apartment for a second time, using the run as a coverup, sources believe.
They returned a third time, allegedly to rape her.
The woman, who awoke hours later, in pain and with signs of trauma, contacted authorities and was treated at Beth Israel Hospital.
The ruse over the radio run was exposed when investigators compared time stamps on the surveillance video with the call to end the run, sources said.
The video also shows them trying to avoid a camera while entering the building, and using a key believed to be the woman's to enter.
On Dec. 19, both cops were placed on modified duty, stripped of their guns and badges.
When investigators asked Mata for his memo book - which should have contained details of the cops' movements and interactions on the night of the alleged rape - he claimed to have lost it, raising suspicions.
"The younger cop's memo book is missing," a source said. "He may have made entries that are false."
The alleged victim and her roommate have since left the city, sources said.
A man who identified himself as Moreno's brother-in-law, speaking outside the cop's Sunset Park, Brooklyn, home, called the officer, "a great father to his kids. He's a great cop, and a great husband." Dublin Core Metadata elements:
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