Brooklyn NYPD Detective Accused Of Masturbating While Peering Into Girls' Windows

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — An NYPD detective who has been working the streets of Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens for 17 years was arrested over the weekend on Long Island. His alleged crime? Masturbating naked in public while peering into the windows of underage girls.

Det. Robert Francis, 46, was arrested in the wee hours Sunday by Long Island cops and charged with four counts of public lewdness, three counts of endangering the welfare of child, three counts of criminal trespassing and one count of trespassing.

He's also been suspended from his longtime post in Brooklyn without pay, according to the NYPD.

Police in Rockville Centre, a sleepy community on Long Island, had been on the hunt for a serial public masturbator spotted outside at least four other homes in the past two months.

Cops now believe Francis was the man behind the spree.

On Feb. 5, police said they received a similar call from a home on Lakeview Avenue. And on Feb. 27, two calls of the same nature came in: one from a home on Bronson Road, and one from a home on Seaman Avenue.

Two more sightings were then reported this past weekend on Sherman Avenue, on March 24 and March 25 — the second of which finally led police to their suspect.

Three of the girls who said they saw the masturbator peeking into their windows, reportedly using some kind of flashlight or head lamp, were under the age of 18. However, Rockville Centre police said they didn't believe he was targeting these particular girls — instead, they said, the homes he chose appeared to be random.

Francis is due back in court on April 17.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into his alleged string of sex crimes is ongoing. Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim is encouraged to call the Rockville Centre Police Department at (516) 766-1500.

Photo courtesy of the Rockville Centre Police Department