A married Brooklyn police officer has been indicted for allegedly exposing himself and masturbating in front of five female officers multiple times while on duty.
New York Police Department officer Anthony Avosso, 31, of the 60 precinct in Coney Island was indicted Friday morning and charged with seven counts of public lewdness and four counts of exposure.
The veteran NYPD officer and married father-of-three children, was suspended from his position last month after a female officer he worked with at the precinct filed a complaint that he had exposed himself to her for a third time.
The victim called Avosso a ‘pervert’ in the February 16 complaint she filed with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.
His female partner claims she noticed his zipper was down while they were in the patrol car after taking a suspect to the precinct.
New York Police Department’s 60 precinct (pictured) in Coney Island where officer Anthony Avosso, 31, worked before being indicted
‘The defendant begins grunting and begins masturbating while the partner is sitting in the front,’ Assistant District Attorney Adriana Rodriguez said in court, according to the New York Post.
‘Don’t you think it’s weird that I am playing with myself?’ Avosso asked his partner, according to Rodriguez.
He also allegedly exposed himself to a probationary female officer fresh out of the Police Academy, all while asking her about her career goals with the NYPD.
In another incident, a female officer alleges she was sitting next to him on the F train en route from the Brooklyn DA’s office to the precinct when she looked over he ‘had his penis sticking out of an open fly of his pants’.
Another officer claims he would perform lewd acts inside his precinct station house, exposing himself while they were alone in a room and he was asking her questions, and a second time while they were in a police car after court.
In another incident, the prosecutor says Avosso was eating lunch at Wendy’s with a female colleague when he opened his zipper to expose himself.
‘It was an intimidating tactic because it was a male-dominant precinct,’ Rodriguez said.
He worked as a field training officer, and the reported incidents involving his female colleagues occurred between October 2016 and February.
Despite the allegations against him, Avosso’s lawyer, Richard Murray, argued to waive the $7,500 bail during the hearing with Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun.
In one of the alleged incidents, Avosso took his penis out on the F train while returning from court to expose himself to a fellow female officer
He said the officer was not a flight risk and that he ‘always had a very good evaluation’ from the NYPD.
Avosso, who lives with his wife and three kids, ages one to 13, on Long Island was released without bail at his arraignment in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Friday.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement: ‘There is no place for this defendant’s alleged outrageous behavior anywhere in our society and especially within our police department. I commend the Internal Affairs Bureau and my prosecutors for taking swift action to investigate and prosecute these disturbing allegations’.