QUEENS — An embattled NYPD detective indicted in Manhattan last month for inventing a gun arrest “out of thin air” has now also been indicted by a grand jury for lying about a cocaine bust, prosecutors said.
Det. Kevin Desormeau, 33, lied about witnessing a suspect selling cocaine, as well as about finding the drug on the suspect he and Det. Sasha Neve arrested in Jamaica on Aug. 28, 2014, around 6:45 p.m., the Queens District Attorney’s Office said.
Desormeau — who was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last month for similarly lying about a 2014 Washington Heights gun arrest — testified in front of a Queens grand jury that he saw the man hand two women drugs in exchange for cash on 108th Avenue and Guy Brewer Boulevard, prosecutors said.
The suspect was charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and spent nearly two months on Rikers Island, the DA said.
But his lawyer later found video of him playing pool inside a nearby bar and restaurant at the same time the detectives claimed they saw him dealing drugs. The footage, which was presented to the grand jury, also showed the detectives walk into the restaurant and escort the man out, prosecutors said.
The drug charges were eventually dismissed.
Desormeau and Neve were indicted for official misconduct and filing false paperwork. Desormeau was also slapped with perjury charges.
He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. Neve faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
In the false Washington Heights arrest, Desormeau claimed that he and partner Sasha Cordoba had witnessed a 38-year-old man with a gun tucked into his waistband at an apartment on West 175th Street soon after someone had claimed they were threatened at gunpoint, prosecutors said.
In fact, investigators later discovered texts that showed Desormeau and Cordoba had illegally gone into the man's apartment and searched it, finding the weapon inside, prosecutors said.
Desormeau “invented [the story] out of thin air — in gross violation of [his] training,” Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance said.
Lawyers for Desormeau and Neve could not immediately be reached for comment.
