The former commissioner of New York City’s Department of Probation faces a criminal investigation into her rocky tenure at the agency.

Two law enforcement sources confirmed to Gothamist that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating former Commissioner Juanita Holmes after a referral last year by the city’s watchdog Department of Investigation. Three current and former probation employees said they were questioned in connection with the investigation. All the sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak about the ongoing probe.

The full scope of the inquiry is unclear. But the former commissioner’s nearly three-year reign at the probation department was fraught with allegations of nepotism and patronage, circumvention of civil service rules, retaliation against employees, bypassing of procurement rules and manipulation of key agency metrics. She was one in a string of Mayor Eric Adams’ appointees in law enforcement who faced accusations of abusing their power.

Spokespeople for the DA’s office and DOI declined comment.

In the past two months, Holmes has been sued by two former senior aides who accused her of abusing her power. A spokesperson for the Department of Probation declined to comment on “personnel matters.” Holmes and her attorney Jack Angelou declined to comment.

Holmes previously defended her tenure at the Department of Probation, saying she brought much needed reform to how the agency collects data.

“The only way I know how to fight recidivism or fight crime is by having transparency,” she said in an interview last year with City & State.

The investigation and lawsuits represent a low point for Holmes, who took over the Department of Probation after a decorated career in the NYPD that ended abruptly. Holmes served in the department for 35 years and rose to become the chief of patrol. She was the highest-ranking Black woman in the department.

But in early 2023 she faced criticism for allowing Cardi B to address recruits at the police academy as part of the rapper’s court-ordered community service tied to a brawl in a Queens strip club. Holmes, who oversaw training, also faced blowback for eliminating a timed 1.5-mile run fitness test for recruits. Holmes said the controversies were blown out of proportion.

In March 2023, then-Mayor Eric Adams appointed Holmes to run the Department of Probation, which manages about 33,000 cases involving juveniles and adults.

Adams said in a press release at the time that Holmes had a “deep understanding of the delicate line between rehabilitation and accountability.”

Holmes went on to slash budgets of nonprofit programs and tilt the agency’s mission from rehabilitation toward enforcement, including requiring probation officers to carry firearms even on home visits. Holmes imposed new rules on probation officers wearing uniforms and changed their shields to more closely resemble NYPD badges.

Among her first acts was the purchase of a $90,000 luxury SUV with police lights and sirens – a taxpayer-funded expenditure that bypassed city rules, the city comptroller later found. Holmes also was accused of hiring friends and relatives, including naming her niece, Demmi Slaughter, to a senior post in the information technology bureau. In an interview with City & State, Holmes said her niece was “phenomenal in IT.” Slaughter left her post last month.

Last July, the City Council’s Committee on Criminal Justice held a hearing that amounted to an airing of grievances from staff about Holmes’ management of the agency. Committee Chair Sandy Nurse noted that under Holmes the department was issuing more violations of probation and making more “re-arrests,” sending people who had been released from jail back behind bars. Meanwhile, probation officers were carrying larger caseloads.

“Not only are we getting outreach [from insiders] about the shift in overall approach to probation and the lack of institutional knowledge and executive leadership, but we have also had a consistent stream of communication that workers are being retaliated against and abruptly suspended without pay, without any due process,” Nurse said in the hearing.

Holmes pushed back against the criticism, saying the increase in recidivism was due to her successful efforts to improve the department’s reporting of data.

Shortly after taking office, Mayor Zohran Mamdani replaced Holmes with Sharun Goodwin, a career probation official who had retired in 2023. The agency’s website now prominently displays the nonprofit programs offered by the agency, suggesting a reversal of Holmes’ approach.

Shortly after Holmes’ ouster, two former senior officials at the Department of Probation sued her.

Peta Gayle White, the former deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives, alleged Holmes would call her at “inappropriate hours” to berate her and abruptly slashed her salary by 23%, or $45,000.

White claims she took sick time from the stress and soon was being pursued by Holmes for not submitting the proper forms, the suit claims. In May, she got a terse letter saying she was fired.

White alleges Holmes falsely blamed her and other staffers for embarrassing media coverage of the loss of 5,000 bullets belonging to the Department of Probation from the police shooting range at Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx.

“Holmes has been widely criticized for her management style, which included berating staff, (and) prioritizing avoiding public scrutiny over addressing problems,” White alleges in her suit.

“Commissioner Holmes would unjustifiably harshly criticize the deputy commissioners. Among other criticisms, Ms. Holmes told the deputy commissioners that they were ‘weak’ for not berating or intimidating their subordinates,” the lawsuit states.

Former IT Security Specialist Angelina Puerto alleged in a separate suit that Holmes accused her in August of leaking damaging information to the press.

“Do you think you were promised your position?” Holmes allegedly asked Puerto in a meeting before demoting her, transferring her to Queens and cutting her $107,000 salary by $10,000. “(You) should be making $40,000.”

“Ms. Puerto did not speak with the press, and she denied speaking with the press,” the lawsuit states. “Ms. Puerto’s demotion was an example from a larger pattern of Defendant Holmes retaliating against subordinates whom Defendant Holmes believed were responsible for the press discovering embarrassing information about the DOP.”

David O’Brien, a lawyer who represents both Puerto and White, declined to comment.

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesperson for the city Law Department, said the lawsuits are being reviewed. Whether the city will represent Holmes in the suits remains undetermined, he said.