Jail time for ex-city cop acquitted in rape

A judge Wednesday sentenced a second former NYPD officer acquitted of involvement in the alleged rape of a drunk fashion executive to jail for official misconduct, telling him he would forever be known as a "disgraced police officer."

Franklin Mata, 29, was sentenced on the misdemeanor charge by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro to 60 days in jail and 3 years' probation for going to the woman's apartment when he was supposed to be on duty. On Monday, the judge ordered his ex-partner, Kenneth Moreno, 43, to jail for a year.

The sentence came after Mata, unlike Moreno, made a personal plea for mercy.

His voice cracking throughout his five-minute statement, Mata told the judge that he was "sorry" for his actions, and had already lost his job and the "respect" of citizens.

"I never meant for anyone to get hurt that night," Mata said.

Carro said he believed that Mata, accused of being a lookout, was less culpable than Moreno, but let himself be led back to the woman's apartment and into a series of lies at trial to cover up what happened.

"For some reason, you carried your partner's bags," the judge said. He scolded Mata for damaging the public trust in police, and said he would forever carry a "bright, shining scarlet letter on your back."

Although both officers were found not guilty of having sex with the helpless woman during three post-midnight visits to her East Village apartment after helping her upstairs from a cab in 2008, they faced up to 2 years in prison on three counts of official misconduct -- one for each visit. The NYPD fired them after their convictions.

Moreno testified that he kept returning to give the woman, then 27, alcohol counseling, and that on the last visit she stripped and tried to seduce him. The woman testified that he had intercourse with her while she was in a blacked-out stupor. Mata said he was sleeping in the woman's living room.

The accuser, a designer who now lives in San Francisco, sat in the front row at Moreno's sentencing but didn't attend Mata's.

Carro let Mata leave court a free man, giving him until Sept. 12 to get an appellate court to delay his sentence during his appeal. Monday, he ordered Moreno to jail immediately, but an appeals judge granted Moreno bail the same day.