Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark and Department of Investigation
Commissioner Mark G. Peters today announced that a New York City Department of
Correction Officer has been indicted on first-degree Rape and other charges for engaging
in sex acts with an inmate in Rikers Island.
District Attorney Clark said, “Correction Officers or any other staff in Rikers Island
cannot use their position to abuse inmates. We will prosecute any jail employee who
undermines the public’s trust and tarnishes the honest, hardworking members of the
Department of Correction.”
Commissioner Peters said, "DOI takes allegations of sex assault at Rikers extremely
seriously. Today's case is part of a larger set of investigations on the issue that we are
undertaking."
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Jose Cosme, 36, of Brooklyn, has been
indicted on first-degree Rape, first-degree Criminal Sexual Act, first-degree Sexual
Abuse, third-degree Rape, third-degree Criminal Sexual Act, Sexual Misconduct, second-degree
Sexual Abuse, Forcible Touching and third-degree Sexual Abuse.
Cosme was arraigned today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ethan Greenberg,
who set bail at $75,000 bond/$25,000 cash. Cosme is due back in court on September 20,
2016. If convicted of the top count, Cosme could face 50 years in prison.
According to the indictment, on November 30, 2015, in the Rose M. Singer Center
on Rikers Island, Cosme allegedly engaged in sexual intercourse with the female inmate
by forcible compulsion. He also allegedly engaged in other sex acts with the inmate, who
is unable to consent by reason that she is incarcerated.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Danielle Pascale,
Supervisor of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, under the supervision of Joseph
Muroff, Chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau, and the overall supervision of
Maria T. Rivero, Chief of the Special Victims Division and Jean T. Walsh, Chief of the
Investigations Division.
District Attorney Clark thanked DOI's Office of the Inspector General for the New
York City Department of Correction for their assistance in the investigation.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
