By Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictments of SASHA CORDOBA and KEVIN DESORMEAU, both 33, for making false statements about a 2014 arrest in Washington Heights in court documents and in court proceedings, and for conducting an illegal search in relation to the arrest. The defendants are charged in New York State Supreme Court with Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree and Official Misconduct. CORDOBA is additionally charged with Perjury in the First Degree and Making a Punishable False Written Statement.[1]
“These defendants are charged with fabricating the details of an arrest—seemingly out of thin air—in gross violation of their training, NYPD protocol, and the law,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance. “When members of law enforcement commit misconduct, they threaten the credibility of our work and the safety of the citizens whom we are sworn to protect. My Office’s Public Corruption Unit remains committed to prosecuting crimes by law enforcement.”
According to documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court, on November 6, 2014, the defendants—two New York City Police Officers—arrested a 38-year-old man inside of a residential building on West 175th Street for possessing a gun. They then claimed to their supervisor, to an Assistant District Attorney, and in paperwork filed with the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, that the man had threatened another person with the firearm and that they observed the gun in his waistband at the time of the arrest. CORDOBA repeatedly attested to those facts: first in a Criminal Court Complaint; then in a search warrant application, which was later signed by a judge; and, again in testimony before a grand jury, which led to the 38-year-old arrestee’s indictment.
Interviews, surveillance video, and text messages between DESORMEAU and another individual revealed the defendants’ claims to be false, and the search of the apartment and the subsequent recovery of the firearm to be unlawful. As a result, the underlying firearm possession case was dismissed.
Assistant District Attorney Kaegan Marie Mays-Williams is handling the prosecution of the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Julio Cuevas Jr., Deputy Chief of the Public Corruption Unit; Assistant District Attorney Luke Rettler, Chief of the Public Corruption Unit; and Executive Assistant District Attorney Michael Sachs, Chief of the Investigation Division. Senior Rackets Investigator Christo Christonikos assisted with the investigation under the supervision of Supervising Rackets Investigator Alexander Farrugia and Chief Investigator Walter Alexander. Investigative Analyst Jaycee Parker also assisted with the case.
District Attorney Vance thanked the detectives of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau for their assistance with this investigation.