FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
NYPD Officer Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Minor Child
Was a Friend of Victim’s Family; Repeated Abuse for Nearly Three Years
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson today announced that a New York City Police Department Officer has been convicted of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child for the repeated abuse of a young girl for nearly three years, starting when she was 10.
District Attorney Thompson said, “This is a disturbing case where a young child was sexually abused and repeatedly violated by a family friend—now a police officer—whom she should have been able to trust. The victim had the courage to speak out against the abuser and we will now see that he is punished.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jacob Sabbagh, 34, of Midwood, Brooklyn. The defendant was convicted today of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child following a jury trial before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus. The defendant faces up to seven years in prison when sentenced on September 7, 2016.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, the defendant was a family friend of the victim and would sleep over at the victim’s home in Flatbush, Brooklyn, approximately every month. The investigation revealed that on each of these visits, between June 2005 and March 2008, the defendant repeatedly groped and fondled the victim and on occasion forced her to reciprocate. The defendant joined the police force in 2009.
The abuse began when the victim was 10 and ceased when she turned 13. The victim and her family moved out of the country and, when she was 16, the victim told her mother about the past abuse. The case was reported to law enforcement authorities in the country where the victim resided and later referred to the District Attorney’s Victim Services Unit.
In controlled telephone conversations between the victim and the defendant, the defendant is heard admitting to the sexual abuse and apologizing for his actions, according to evidence presented at trial.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Grace Brainard, formerly of the District Attorney’s Civil Rights Bureau, and Kevin O’Donnell, Deputy Bureau Chief of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit.
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