Lest you think yesterday's arrest of an allegedly sex-crazed abusive narcotics detective is just an isolated incident, there's yet another rapist cop in the news. Yesterday ex-cop Wilfredo Rosario (who was previously found guilty of telling a teenager that if she performed oral sex on him he'd destroy a summons for trespassing in Riverside Park) went on trial for two other alleged violations: that he sexually abused two women after luring them with promises of applications for jobs and programs for their children. And a fourth trial for rape looms for Rosario after this one.
Yesterday one of his alleged victims told her story for the first time, testifying that in March 2008 Rosario, now 41, showed up at her house in response to a request she put in at the 26th Precinct in Upper Manhattan for an after-school program for her son. She claims Rosario lured her to her car in order to explain the application to her in Spanish, but then started driving. He allegedly pulled over at one point and told her he wanted to feel her heart, then began groping her breasts. After she pushed his hand away, she says Rosario showed her a Santeria necklace and told her it "gave him the power to feel people" and he could tell that she "had suffered a lot in this lifetime."
Insisting her he wanted to help her, Rosario allegedly demanded that she show him her lower back tattoo, then forced her hand down his pants. After dropping her off at home, he called her and told her, "I know where you live—don't tell anybody what happened"—a threat that the victim caught on tape. According to prosecutors, Rosario followed a similar pattern in the other abuse incidents; in the 2003 rape Rosario "allegedly appeared unannounced at the female victim’s apartment after she sought assistance and information about an after-school program for her young daughter. He entered the victim’s apartment, fondled her then forcibly raped her."
