NEW YORK
Former New York Police Department officer Eduardo Cornejo arrested by federal agents and charged with taking women across state lines for prostitution, according to officials.
Until his termination from the NYPD last month, Cornejo was an 11-year veteran of the NYPD who, at the time of the charged conduct, was on modified assignment and before that assigned to the 79th Precinct in Brooklyn.
Cornejo became a pimp after he finished working with the NYPD, officials said.
“As alleged, the defendant betrayed the trust of the residents of the city he swore to protect,” stated U.S. Attorney Capers. “Rather than seeking to eradicate crime from the streets of the city, the defendant promoted prostitution and profited from his exploitation of women.”
The FBI and the Internal Affairs Bureau of the NYPD investigated this case, officials said.
“Throughout his alleged criminal actions, Cornejo not only abused the public trust given to him as an NYPD officer, but he showed no human decency when he facilitated the exploitation of women for profit. Police officers, like all public servants, are held to a higher standard, and should not violate the very same laws they are supposed to enforce,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez.
Law enforcement observed Cornejo,33, transporting at least ten different prostitutes he employed to motels throughout the New York metropolitan area, including parts of Long Island and New Jersey.
Cornejo allegedly committed these crimes right after leaving his work with the NYPD.
As further detailed in the complaint, law enforcement got a wiretap and intercepted statements by Cornejo that showed his commission of the crime.
For example, officials noted that in one such statement Cornejo talked about the way he divides money with the prostitutes he employs and also stated that, if he were to stand outside a motel door with “a bunch of girls,” law enforcement would “know what’s up real quick.”
If convicted, Cornejo faces up to ten years in prison.