Feds: Nassau police Det. Robert Sacco, charged with attempted sexual exploitation of child, is a 'danger' to community

Federal investigators argued a Nassau County police detective charged with trying to persuade a 10-year-old girl to perform sex acts is "a danger to the community" and a flight risk and should be held in federal lockup until his case goes to trial, a memo filed in federal court shows.

Robert Sacco, a 10-year veteran of the police department, was arrested Friday at Nassau County police headquarters on charges he attempted to persuade an undercover upstate Colonie detective working with the FBI, who he thought was the girl’s father, to have sex with the child while he watched via live video stream, authorities said.

The girl did not exist, but investigators used regressive software to make a female detective look younger.

"The defendant, a 38-year-old Nassau County Police Department Detective, is charged with attempted sexual exploitation of a child. In short, the defendant, a police officer sworn to protect, intended to sexually exploit a 10-year-old girl, as described below and in the complaint," according to a detention memo. "Accordingly, he should be detained as a danger to the community."

Sacco’s attorney, Elizabeth Macedonio, did not respond to requests for comment.

Beginning in October 2025, Sacco corresponded with the undercover detective, first asking him about nudism and then expressing interest in the phantom adolescent girl, according to the complaint. The Nassau detective also said he was interested in a 5-year-old girl, court records show.

Investigators said Sacco also sent explicit photos of his genitalia to the undercover officer and asked him to show them to the 10-year-old child.

The complaint quotes the Nassau officer trying to arrange an in-person meeting and live video calls.

"I would absolutely love to set something up in person, the proximity will make it tough but I'm willing to try and make it work if we can!" Sacco allegedly wrote to the undercover investigators. "And not offended at all, I totally get it. Maybe we can work up to video chatting together one day to start?"

Sacco offered to buy the girl clothing and underwear and offered the undercover detective electronic payment information to make it happen, prosecutors said.

In January, weeks before he was arrested, the veteran Nassau officer said he was worried that authorities could intercept his correspondence.

"Idk if it’s just me but I have been seeing a lot of news articles about guys getting caught with inappropriate stuff on their phone and I've been like kinda worried," Sacco allegedly wrote the detective, ending the sentence with a sweating emoji.

Prosecutors argued the Nassau police detective knew what he was doing was illegal and more than just playing out an online fantasy.

"The defendant repeatedly suggested setting up a video call with who he believed to be a father and his 10-year-old daughter so that he could watch the father sexually assault the child. The defendant’s conduct demonstrates that this was not fantasy or role-playing. He confirmed that he wanted to see that abuse, logged into a video call in which he expected to see it," prosecutors said.

 The U.S. Attorney’s Office also said Sacco is a greater flight risk because he is a law enforcement officer.

"Further, it is hard to imagine a defendant more capable of avoiding law enforcement than a member of law enforcement," prosecutors wrote. "As a detective, the defendant is more familiar with investigative means than most defendants." 

Sacco was arraigned on Saturday in Brooklyn federal court before Magistrate Judge Marcia Henry.

The judge denied bail and ordered Sacco removed to Albany federal court for his next appearance on Feb. 6, according to court records.

When he was still new to the job, on Sept. 23, 2017, Sacco and three other officers were involved in a police call that ended when Walter Perez, 36, a Guatemalan immigrant high on cocaine, died from physical exertion and electrical shock from police Tasers, according to court papers.

State Attorney General Letitia James investigated Perez’s death, but found criminal prosecution of the officers was not warranted because he had punched an officer and resisted arrest.

James did, however, suggest the Nassau County Police Department review its procedures for dealing with emotionally disturbed people and its use of multiple Tasers in the incident.

Sacco did not discharge his Taser during the call, but failed to intervene when his fellow officers used force and deployed their Tasers multiple times, she found.

A federal civil rights case brought against the county on behalf of the estate of Perez was awarded $700,000 during a settlement in the middle of a civil trial.

Sacco, who joined the Nassau County Police Department in 2016, made $178,528 in 2024 including $16,823.34 in overtime.

In 2023, Sacco and fellow detective Anthony Albanese helped an Oceanside woman recover her ginger Turkish Angora cat, Toby, that had been stolen from her driveway.

According to a Newsday report, the detective used "good ol' detective work" to track down the suspect and return the feline to her owner.

Newsday's Arielle Martinez and Michael O'Keeffe contributed to this story.