An NYPD lieutenant harassed an of ficer into performing oral sex on him twice — then punished her with petty infractions after she broke off the relationship, a lawsuit charges.
The allegation that Lt. Salvatore Marchese texted obscene photos and asked for sexual favors from Officer Lisette Pedrosa, a single mom, was supported by the NYPD’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, according to Pedrosa’s lawsuit filed in Bronx Supreme Court.
Pedrosa also claims that Marchese retaliated against her after she filed the initial complaint.
It all started after Marchese recruited Pedrosa to join an anti-graffiti team at the 25th Precinct in East Harlem. About a month into the assignment, she twice received pictures of a penis on her cell phone — sent from Marchese’s number, Pedrosa said. She deleted the pics.
Then Marchese asked her to meet him at the Cross County Mall in Yonkers after work to “become more comfortable working with each other,” the suit states.
She had no idea what that meant until she climbed into Marchese’s SUV with tinted windows parked in a remote area. Marchese begged for oral sex to “make him feel like a man,” according to the suit. He also promised to “take care of her.”
Pedrosa, 40, said she reluctantly complied. “It wasn’t something I wanted to do,” she said. “I felt violated. I felt I was trapped. I was thinking, ‘How am I going to get out of this?’ ”
Marchese summoned her to a second rendezvous in a desolate area of the South Bronx, where he again asked for oral sex, the suit states. Again, Pedrosa, “feeling afraid for her safety,” complied, the suit says.
Marchese wanted to take the action to the next level, but Pedrosa put him off, she claims. Two weeks later, Marchese allegedly slapped her buttocks in the precinct stationhouse, and she formally complained to the Internal Affairs Bureau.
Before filing her complaint, Pedrosa said, she had never been disciplined since joining the NYPD in 2004. After the complaint, she said, she was cited for about 10 minor infractions .
Marchese was disciplined for sexual harassment, transferred out of the precinct and ordered to attend a seminar called “professionalism in the workplace,” according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Office, which did not substantiate Pedrosa’s claim of retaliation.
Marchese denies the charges.
“He always maintained that he had acted appropriately and professionally in regards to Police Officer Pedrosa,” said James Moschella, Lieutenants Benevolent Association counsel.
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