BROOKLYN — A recently fired NYPD officer, who was arrested in 2012 after moving to a better seat at Citi Field, was charged with transporting prostitutes he employed to clients in New York, Long Island and New Jersey, officials said Tuesday.
Eduardo Cornejo, 33, an 11-year veteran of the force who had worked in Bed-Stuy, was caught ferrying at least 10 different hookers to motels in and around the city, sometimes after leaving work at the Brooklyn precinct, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
“As alleged, the defendant betrayed the trust of the residents of the city he swore to protect,” United States Attorney Robert Capers said in a statement. “Rather than seeking to eradicate crime from the streets of the city, the defendant promoted prostitution and profited from his exploitation of women.”
Federal investigators trailed Cornejo while he drove some of the women and also recorded him saying that if he stood outside a motel door with a “bunch of girls” that police would “know what’s up real quick,” according to federal prosecutors.
Cornejo was officially fired from the NYPD on Jan. 15 and was on modified duty before that.
He faces up to 10 years in prison.
“I commend our Internal Affairs Bureau which takes a proactive role in investigating serious misconduct among the ranks of the NYPD and works closely with prosecutors in building cases against those who violate the very laws that they have sworn to enforce,” Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement.
