Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
'They’re Getting Away With Rape': Former NYPD Cops Admit To Having Sex With Teen In Their Custody Get 5 Years Probation
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Aug 29, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Christina Carrega / Gothamist
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Aug 29, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Two former NYPD Detectives who were initially accused of raping an 18-year-old woman in their custody have pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and will serve five years of probation.
Eddie Martins, 39, and Richard Hall, 34, former detectives for the Brooklyn South Narcotics division, pleaded guilty to bribe receiving and official misconduct for having sex with the teenager in a police van in a parking lot after a traffic stop in Coney Island in 2017.
The alleged victim, who goes by Anna Chambers on social media, claimed that Martins and Hall stopped her and her friends at Calbert Vaux Park, and found marijuana and Klonopin in the vehicle. The detectives then allegedly handcuffed Chambers, put her in their police van and drove away, calling her friends from a blocked number, warning them not to follow. Martins and Hall then allegedly raped Chambers orally and vaginally, and forced her to take one of the Klonopins, telling her to "keep her mouth shut" before they dropped her off. Prosecutors said at the time that they had unambiguous DNA evidence that Martins and Hall raped Chambers.
Attorneys for the two detectives countered that the sex was consensual, and at the time, no state law specifically prohibited sex between a police officer and someone in their custody (this case prompted state lawmakers to make it illegal in 2018). They also claimed that Chambers fabricated elements of her story and perjured herself in statements made to investigators. Chambers took the unusual step of filing a civil suit against the city before the conclusion of the criminal case, meaning that sworn testimony from the civil suit becomes relevant in the criminal case.
Chambers began disparaging the DA's office on Twitter, and it was revealed that an ADA was involved in a romantic relationship with Hall, and spoke to him after his arrest.
Given the complexities of the case, the Brooklyn DA's office asked Judge Danny Chun to assign a special prosecutor to the case. That request was declined, and Hall and Martins later pleaded guilty to the lesser charges. In a statement, Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said that his office asked for one to three years of prison time. Chun instead sentenced the men to five years probation. (In 2016, Judge Chun also discarded the Brooklyn DA's recommendation to place NYPD Officer Peter Liang under house arrest for shooting and killing Akai Gurley in a NYCHA stairwell, and sentenced him to probation and community service instead.) Hall and Martins resigned from the department after they were initially indicted.
"While I would have preferred to see them serve prison time, they are no longer members of our police department and with today's plea are convicted felons," Gonzalez said. "We could not apply the new law retroactively, and serious credibility issues in this case precluded us from proceeding on additional charges, yet we remained committed to holding these defendants accountable."
Michael David, Chambers's attorney in her federal civil suit, said that he and Chambers were "outraged" by the judge's decision.
"If you're arrested and kidnapped in a van with two large officers with guns, there's no consent. They're getting away with rape," David said. "It sends a horrible message to victims of police sexual misconduct."
David said that the civil case is still being litigated, but that he was seeking to have U.S. Attorneys charge the two men with federal civil rights violations.
Mark Bederow, the attorney for Martins, said there was a "zero percent chance of that happening."
"Mr. David is out of his depth. What these guys pled guilty to today, which they acknowledged in court, is that they had a sexual encounter with her, and she was released," Bederow said. "[Chambers] has no credibility and she has repeatedly perjured herself."
Peter Guadagnino, an attorney for Hall, said the men were "brought through the mud on lies."
"They had sex with her, they took a bribe. They didn't take it in the form of rape," Guadagnino said.
Guadagnino admitted that while it may be reprehensible for police officers to have sex with anyone in their custody, and that the public may rightly expect those officers to serve jail time for doing so, "it wasn't a crime back then."
"In this country, it's unconstitutional to apply a law retroactively. And the circumstances in this case were unique," he said. "There were a lot of lies here."
Tagged
brooklyn da
richard hall
eric gonzalez
Eddie martins
police misconduct
anna chambers
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .