Two NYPD cops groped a prostitute and stole her cash after responding to a 311 call at a notorious Queens prostitution den nicknamed the “Market of Sweethearts,” prosecutors said Monday.
On-duty officers Justin McMillan, 27, and Justin Colon, 24, allegedly stormed a Jackson Heights apartment in July 2024 and caught a sex worker and a john in the act — before McMillan snatched money from her purse, grabbed her breast and rubbed her rear end, according to a criminal complaint.
Their bodycams allegedly weren’t activated and they went back to the 115h precinct without filing any paperwork or reporting the incident.
The partners pleaded not guilty to charges of burglary, forcible touching, petit larceny and official misconduct before Queens Justice Jessica Earl-Gargan. They were both immediately suspended without pay.
McMillan, of Atlantic Beach on Long Island, and Colon, of Long Island City, were assigned to foot patrol on July 19, 2024 when they got a 311 call about alleged prostitution going on inside a residential building on 89th Street — near Roosevelt Avenue, a notorious red-light district housing backroom bordellos.
The officers arrived at the building and allegedly turned off their body-worn cameras after stating: “I don’t see anything,” according to the indictment. But they lingered around the building and were approached by a woman exiting through a side door, the indictment stated.
McMillan and Colon then allegedly encouraged the woman to enter the building with them before they snatched her bag, dumped its contents onto the floor — and took the keys to an interior door that was locked.
The two cops eventually left the building and continued with their patrol without reporting back on the call — only to return to the 89th Street home eight hours later, prosecutors said.
That’s when McMillan and Colon — who were still on duty and had their body cams deactivated — found a sex worker with a male client who bolted at the first sign of the officers, according to the indictment.
McMillan, who was assigned to the 115th precinct in October 2023, allegedly went into the woman’s purse and groped her, before she fled the building and called 911, prosecutors said.
Colon entered the police academy in July 2023 and was assigned to the 115h precinct in January 2024 — just seven months before the alleged misconduct.
McMillan and Colon were placed on modified duty in August 2024 when the alleged misconduct was uncovered by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau before it was transferred to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
“We hold our officers to the highest standard of professionalism and integrity, and failing to meet that standard is disqualifying,” Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said in a statement. “Let me be perfectly clear: Any officer who violates their oath will be investigated, exposed, and held fully accountable. That standard will never change.”
The “Market of Sweethearts” was exposed by The Post as a thriving underground market for sex on Roosevelt Avenue.
In January 2024, the NYPD busted a dozen brothels posing as massage parlors on the neighborhood due to “allegations of illegal prostitution activity.”
Both officers face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charges.
They were ordered back to court on April 28.
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