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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Brooklyn Detective Suspended for Public Masturbation to Face NYPD Hearing

CROWN HEIGHTS — A 71st Precinct detective suspended from duty after a public lewdness arrest in Long Island will face a departmental hearing about the charges, police said.

Detective Robert Francis, of Queens, confessed to masturbating in front of teenage girls and other residents of Rockville Centre, police said.

Francis was arrested March 25 in a driveway carrying a flashlight one day after a resident on the same street had reported a man using a flashlight to draw attention to himself masturbating, a spokeswoman for the Rockville Centre Police department said.

After being questioned by police, Francis admitted to masturbating publicly on four separate occasions in the town, including three incidents where those who saw him were teenage girls, the police department said.

Francis now faces four counts of public lewdness, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of trespass, Long Island police said.

In a Facebook statement about the arrest, the RCPD said Francis “will pay dearly for his acts … because of the special trust and confidence expected of the police profession.”

The NYPD said he was suspended without pay immediately after the incident. After 30 days of suspension, he will be placed on modified assignment, at which time he will face a departmental hearing on internal charges. No date has been set yet for the hearing, the police department said Thursday.