Raped In Hell: Guards At 'Third World' NYC Jail Abused Inmates For Years, U.S. Attorney Says

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — The women's ward of the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, one of two federal prisons in New York City, was already outed last year by a group of judges who gained access as an "unconscionable," "third world" hell. Female prisoners were packed into two large rooms, the judges said in a report, with no windows, fresh air, sunlight or opportunity to go outside. The women "had all but given up hope that things would get better," they wrote. "The lethargy was almost palpable."

But sick and explosive new allegations out of the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office suggest inmates, while stuck in dark captivity, may have also been subjected to repeated sexual attacks by federal guards.

A triple-indictment against three male prison staffers at the Metropolitan Detention Center, unveiled by the U.S. Attorney on Thursday, alleges they collectively forced themselves sexually onto least 10 female prisoners — using their "superior position, authority and strength" to "overpower" their victims again and again for years, up until late 2016.

The accused rapists, arrested Thursday and suspended from their jobs without pay, have been named as jail guard Armando Moronta and lieutenants Carlos Richard Martinez and Eugenio Perez, all Brooklyn residents.

Their most common tactic was allegedly to lure inmates into their offices by ordering them to clean — then groping the women, stripping them and raping them, or forcing them to perform oral sex.

(Scroll down for more details on the federal officers' alleged string of sex crimes.)

“By using their authority and power to prey upon and abuse female inmates in their care, these defendants violated their oaths of public service,” Brooklyn's acting U.S. Attorney, Bridget Rohde, said Thursday.

Evidence collected by investigators includes "corroborated statements of many female inmate-victims, MDC video surveillance, social media evidence, phone records, documentary records, medical records and physical searches," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Spokespeople for the Metropolitan Detention Center and the greater U.S. Bureau of Prisons did not respond to requests for comment from Patch on how this alleged predatory behavior among some of their highest-ranking officers was able to play out to such an elaborate extent, and for such a long stretch of time. We'll update this post if we hear back.

[UPDATE: Justin Long, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, sent us the following statement: "We are aware of the allegations and are taking appropriate steps at this time. However, we do not comment on matters that are the subject of an ongoing investigation and legal proceedings."]

Here's what prosecutors say has been going on behind closed doors in the big, gray building at 80 29th St.:

Armando Moronta, a 39-year-old corrections officer already charged in January with accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to help smuggle cellphones and drugs like K2 (synthetic marijuana) into the prison, allegedly had three sex victims. He's facing four counts of "sexual abuse of a ward."

According to the criminal complaint against Moronta:

• In May 2016, he summoned his first and second victims to his office late one night and began making sexual comments to them. He then instructed each victim to give him oral sex while the other "served as a lookout" — which they both did, one after another. He warned them not to tell anyone or "he would get in trouble."

• Earlier that year, Moronta demanded his first and second victims show him their breasts, which he then fondled. He also gave his first victim his phone number and email address and told her to contact him once she was released from prison.

• One night in June 2016, much like he had done with his first and second victims, Moronta summoned a third victim to his office. He made repeated sexually explicit remarks to her in his office, including comments about her breasts. He told her he wanted her to give him oral sex — then took out his penis. The victim complied.

• Later that same night, Moronta called his third victim back to his office, put his hand inside her pants and inserted his finger into her vagina.

Carlos Richard Martinez, 47, a high-ranking lieutenant with "supervisory and disciplinary authority" over inmates and other jail guards — and a role in educating guards about the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) — allegedly had one victim, a woman in her late 20s who spoke minimal English.

The lieutenant is accused of "using physical force and fear to repeatedly rape" his victim while she was serving her prison sentence at the Metropolitan Detention Center. He's charged with 20 varying counts of "sexual abuse," "aggravated sexual abuse," "sexual abuse of a ward" and "deprivation of civil rights."

According to the criminal complaint against Martinez:

• In November 2015, the lieutenant posted a photo to his Facebook page of two men, apparent jail staffers, hugging each other at a bar. He captioned the photo: “It’s only PREA when you don’t like it.”

• During his time as lieutenant, Martinez regularly had his victim clean his office area. One day, he began making sexually explicit comments to her in Spanish (his second language and her first). He told her to masturbate in the shower while thinking of him.

• By early December 2015, the lieutenant's behavior turned violent. One weekend, when the victim came to clean his office, he zipped down his pants and showed her his erect penis. He then forced her head down on his penis and inserted it into her mouth. When she tried to push herself away, he forced his penis back into her mouth.

• After the oral sex, the lieutenant forcefully pinned his victim against a desk, pulled down her pants and underwear and thrust his penis into her vagina from behind, roughly and repeatedly. The lieutenant then pulled his victim off the desk and continued to penetrate her until he ejaculated. The victim was left bleeding from her vagina.

• Following this violent rape, before allowing his victim to return to her prison cell, the lieutenant warned her not to tell anyone and threatened her with additional prison time.

• The lieutenant continued to rape his victim for months. She doesn't remember how many times he raped her, but believes it was at least 10. During this time, the lieutenant said he knew things about her family, and knew she hardly ever had visitors.

• In February 2016, when the victim mentioned the lieutenant's name to a friend over the phone "in a context that could bring scrutiny to the inappropriate nature of his contact," he confronted her angrily — again threatening her with more prison time. However, he did stop raping her for the time being.

• In April 2016, right before his victim was about to be released into ICE custody, the lieutenant called her into his office for one last assault. He forcibly penetrated her vagina with his penis and ejaculated onto her lower back. (Just in case, he told her, “immigration” were to “check” her medically.)

Eugenio Perez, 46, another high-ranking lieutenant with authority over inmates and jail guards — and, like Martinez, a role in educating guards about the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) — allegedly had six victims.

He's charged with 16 varying counts of "sexual abuse," "aggravated sexual abuse," "sexual abuse of a ward," "attempted sexual abuse of a ward" and "deprivation of civil rights."

According to the criminal complaint against Perez:

• In 2013, the lieutenant began approaching his first victim and complimenting her looks. One day, another guard told her the lieutenant wanted her to clean his office area. The guard then escorted her there. While she was cleaning his office, he attacked — kissing her mouth, fondling her breasts over her clothes, pulling out his penis and demanding she give him oral sex. The victim thought the lieutenant's penis had a "foul odor." So she she made a joke, laughed it off and managed to leave the room.

• Years later, in April 2016, the lieutenant summoned his second and third victims to clean his office area. While the second victim was inside his office, he asked her whether she knew his nickname — then stood up, walked toward her and showed her his penis, asking her to look at it so she could better understand the nickname. The lieutenant made some more comments on the length of his penis before grabbing his second victim’s hand, forcing it onto his penis and demanding she give him oral sex. However, she was able to wrangle her hand away and flee the office.

• At that point, the lieutenant's third victim entered his office — where she was "surprised and terrified" to find him with his penis exposed. He then started rattling off her personal info, apparently to intimidate her, and demanded she give him oral sex. The victim complied. While his penis was in her mouth, he put his hands behind her head to force it in deeper, to the point that she choked. She tried to pull her head away but couldn't fight his strength.

• During oral sex with his third victim, the lieutenant's second victim came back into the office. He asked her to expose parts of her body to him. After he ejaculated, he warned them both not to tell anyone or they'd be “in trouble.”

• Also in spring 2016, the lieutenant began watching a fourth victim as she exercised and commenting on her looks. One day, he summoned her to his office area to clean and told her to come inside. She did. He then grabbed her by the arm and tried to touch her. When she said "No" and told the lieutenant she was afraid, he told her not to worry, as he had control of the jail's surveillance footage.

• Inside the office that day — sometime in late May or early June of 2016 — the lieutenant touched his fourth victim's breasts and squeezed her butt over her clothing, demanded she touch his penis and made her watch as he masturbated to the point of ejaculation.

• A similar scene played out with the same victim weeks later, on a night in mid-July. The lieutenant had a guard bring his fourth victim back to his office to clean. When she entered the room, he grabbed her, lifted her shirt and bra, pulled down her pants, touched her breasts, forcibly turned her around and bent her forward so he could grab her butt and stick his finger inside it. He then tried to insert his penis in her butt, but she clenched her muscles. When he told her to relax, she again said "No" and told him she was afraid.

• So in lieu of anal sex, the lieutenant demanded his fourth victim give him oral sex. When his penis was inside her mouth, he used his hands to push it further inside, to the point where she almost threw up. He then summoned another female inmate who was cleaning outside his office to come inside and watch.

• Some months later, in September 2016, the lieutenant offered to throw out a disciplinary "write up" for his fifth victim if she would clean his office area. He told her he had “saved [her] ass" from punishment. As she cleaned one of two bathrooms outside his office, the lieutenant entered the bathroom, clutched the front of her neck and grabbed her breasts. When she tried to push his hand away, he warned her victim not to “piss [him] off.”

• This same night, the lieutenant's sixth victim, who had been cleaning nearby, began to enter the bathroom where he was accosting his fifth victim. He immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.

• After threatening to make life difficult for both women in the bathroom, the lieutenant roughly inserted his fingers into the fifth victim's vagina, pulled out his penis and demanded the sixth victim give him oral sex. He grabbed her neck and hair, shoved her face toward his penis and inserted it in her mouth. The lieutenant then demanded the other woman perform oral sex on him as well, and shoved his penis into her mouth. Eventually, he ejaculated.

• While still in the bathroom, the lieutenant warned his fifth and sixth victims that if they told anybody what happened, they would “be sorry” — and that no one would believe them anyway, given his status. The next morning, he again warned them not to tattle. Then he asked if they “want[ed] some more."

This story has been updated. Image via Google Maps