Crime Watch

NYPD detective charged with committing lewd acts in RVC backyards

Posted

An NYPD detective was arrested by Rockville Centre police on Sunday and charged with multiple counts of public lewdness and other crimes, the latest in a string of similar incidents that have occurred in the village in recent months.

Police officials say 46-year-old Detective Robert Francis, a 17-year member of the 71st precinct in Brooklyn, was taken into custody on Sherman Avenue just after 3 a.m. on Sunday and charged with four counts of public lewdness, three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, three counts of criminal trespassing and one count of trespassing. He was released to family members with a desk appearance ticket.

Rockville Centre Police Commissioner Charles Gennario said during Monday’s news conference that the NYPD was contacted, and the bureau immediately suspended Francis. Multiple calls to the NYPD seeking comment went unanswered.

Francis was in possession of only a flashlight when he was approached by officers on Sunday and admitted to committing the acts in the backyards of four separate homes in February and March. Three of the homes had children under the age of 16, and in the other case, the female victim was 17. Gennario called the incidents a “coincidence,” despite the fact that all four girls attend South Side High School.

“They were just chosen at random,” he said.

Francis also identified himself as a NYPD detective the morning of his arrest.

“I was shocked,” Gennario said.

The first incident occurred on Feb. 5 on Lakeview Avenue between 9 and 10 p.m. The next two happened between 8:50 and 9 p.m. on Feb. 27 behind separate homes on Brompton Road and Seaman Avenue, which have connecting backyards. The fourth incident took place on Sherman Avenue at around 10:30 p.m. Francis was found in the driveway of another Sherman Avenue home on Sunday after a neighbor called police to report a suspicious person in the area.

“We believe he was going to do it again,” Gennario said.

Hours earlier, thousands of people attended Rockville Centre’s annual St. Patrick’s Day parade. The celebration continued in the village well into the night.

“Our patrol force was very busy that night,” Gennario said. “They could’ve taken a suspicious person [call], do a little drive-around and say, ‘Ah, we can’t find him.’ They took a long time looking for this subject because of the other incidents that have occurred.”

According to officials, Francis expressed remorse and did not provide a motive for his actions, only telling police that “he had a lot going on in his life” and was “going through tough times,” according to Gennario.

Gennario said in all of the cases, Francis stood in the backyard and lured the unsuspecting teenagers with a lighting device. When he was seen, he moved the light to his genitals and began masturbating before quickly leaving the scene. He did not interact with any of the victims.

Francis, a married man and father from Springfield Gardens, Queens, performed similar acts in other unknown areas of New York, according to Gennario. He drove his personal car to Rockville Centre and parked blocks away from the victims’ houses.

An unidentified registered sex offender who lived in the area was initially interviewed by police after the first incident because he fit the behavior of the pattern, but officials later found out through his parole officer that he moved to a halfway house in Brooklyn on March 1. Gennario said there was not enough information to charge that person and there were no incidents in the village since then until March 24.

“We thought we were free and clear, so it was a shock to us when this incident occurred,” he said.

Gennario said that desk appearance tickets were common for these types of misdemeanor offenses and vehemently denied giving Francis any preferential treatment because he was a police officer.

“We knew that any action we took, we were ruining his life,” he said. “He was immediately suspended by the NYPD. If we were going to give him a break, we would have just released him on an appearance ticket, and it would have been up to him to tell his command that he had a police involvement. We notified his duty officer immediately, they responded immediately, and they took the appropriate action. We treated him the way we treated any other subject.”

Francis, who does not have any prior arrests, is expected to appear in court on April 17.

The Herald will update this story as more details become available.