Officer's rape charge prompts probe
Former NYPD officer Michael Pena, in this undated file photo, faces the possibility of life in prison after being convicted of grabbing a schoolteacher off a street and sexually assaulting her at gunpoint. Credit: Pool
Investigators are looking into whether a New York Police Department officer accused of rape might have struck more than once.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters Thursday detectives are looking for possible evidence against Officer Michael Pena in other, unsolved sex attacks.
Prosecutors allege a drunken, off-duty Pena stopped a teacher on a Manhattan street last week to ask for directions. They say he showed her his gun and dragged her into a backyard where he raped her.
The 27-year-old patrolman is being held on $1 million bond. His lawyers say he never meant any harm. But they won’t detail his version of what happened.
Pena’s arrest came about three months after two other NYPD officers were acquitted of raping a drunken woman they’d been called to help get home. They were convicted of official misconduct.
'I've never seen fire sitting on the water' Three Newsday photographers talk to NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland about covering the tragic crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
'I've never seen fire sitting on the water' Three Newsday photographers talk to NewsdayTV's Macy Egeland about covering the tragic crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.
