{"id":159432,"date":"2026-03-10T17:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159432\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T17:51:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T17:51:39","slug":"feds-revive-case-against-two-former-nypd-cops-accused-of-groping-stealing-from-prostitutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/159432\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds revive case against two former NYPD cops accused of groping, stealing from prostitutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of former rookie NYPD cops<\/a> are facing federal charges for groping and stealing money from a naked prostitute in a Queens brothel, after the state case against them got tossed on speedy trial grounds.<\/p>\n

The former officers, Justin McMillan, 26 and Justin Colon, 24, were busted back in March 2025, but the Queens Supreme Court case against them fell apart in December after prosecutors with Queens D.A. Melinda Katz\u2019s office said they couldn\u2019t meet speedy trial requirements.<\/a><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors announced they\u2019d be taking a crack at the duo, indicting them on civil rights offenses.<\/a><\/p>\n

McMillan and Colon were on duty and assigned to the 115th Precinct on July 19, 2024, when they responded to a 311 call about prostitution at a residence-turned-brothel on 89th St. by 37th Ave. in Jackson Heights, according to federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n

They showed up at 8:40 p.m., marked off in their activity logs that the situation was already resolved, and turned off their body cams. They then approached a woman leaving the brothel, telling her to go back inside with them, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

The cops stole the key to the building and cash from her purse, and left the area, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Officer Justin McMillan (right) is pictured with his attorney at Queens Criminal Court on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Sheetal Banchariya \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

About eight hours later, at about 4:50\u00a0 the next morning, McMillan and Colon came back, used the stolen key to unlock the door and found a woman naked on a bed with a john, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

The officers turned off the lights and started shining their flashlights, and the john ran off, according to the feds. They then approached the naked sex worker, and McMillan reached into her purse to steal $200, the feds say.<\/p>\n

McMillan then groped her bare buttock and breast as she stood next to the bed, and Colon used his flashlight to show her where her clothes were, according to court filings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMcMillan physically groped Jane Doe\u2019s naked body for his own pleasure and to leverage his power over her,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Reid wrote in a Tuesday letter asking a judge set a \u201csubstantial \u201d bail for both cops.<\/p>\n

The woman rushed to get dressed and ran out the door, and the two officers finished their tours and returned to the 115th Precinct stationhouse, never reporting the incident, the feds allege.<\/p>\n

The woman called 911 to report what happened, leading to the cops\u2019 arrest and indictment in March 2025 on burglary, forcible touching and official misconduct. By December, though, a Queens Supreme Court judge dismissed the case after prosecutors failed to certify readiness for trial within the legally mandated timeframe, NBC New York reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

Brendan Brosh, a spokesman for Katz, said after the dismissal, \u201cThis prosecution is now sealed as a matter of law. However, this case presented numerous discovery challenges and as a result, the case was dismissed today on speedy trial grounds. We are confident that with the new changes to the discovery statute, we will achieve justice for victims of crime and reduce the number of technical dismissals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NYPDNYPD Officer Justin Colon (right) is pictured with his attorney at Queens Criminal Court on Monday, March 31, 2025. (Sheetal Banchariya \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

McMillan, of Long Island, and Colon, of Long Island City, are slated to be arraigned in Brooklyn Federal Court Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs alleged, the defendants\u2019 response to a 311 complaint about prostitution on their beat was to commit multiple criminal acts that shock the conscience and violated the civil rights of a vulnerable victim,\u201d U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Both officers resigned from the NYPD last March, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

McMillan and Colon\u2019s lawyers weren\u2019t immediately available for comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of former rookie NYPD cops are facing federal charges for groping and stealing money from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159433,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,122,124,123,265],"class_list":["post-159432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159432\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}