Mayor Eric Adams characterized as “alarming” the allegations against NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who resigned late Friday after a subordinate filed a complaint alleging Maddrey had pushed her into sexual favors for overtime pay on the job.
“The allegations are extremely concerning,” the mayor said hours after the New York Post broke the news of the allegations.
NYPD Lt. Quathisha Epps said in a complaint to the New York State Division of Human Rights that Maddrey “engaged in quid quo pro sexual harassment by exploiting her emotional and financial vulnerabilities, as well as her history of childhood trauma, to coerce her into performing unwanted sexual favors, in exchange for overtime opportunities in the workplace.”
Epps, who earned more than $400,000 including the overtime last year, told the Post of Maddrey, the NYPD’s top uniformed officer: “I think he’s a predator.”
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said it is investigating the “extremely serious and disturbing claim” by Epps.
It’s the first time Adams has distanced himself from Maddrey, whom he has consistently promoted and praised despite Maddrey’s checkered history at the police department.
Adams appointed Maddrey as chief of department despite a prior allegation that Maddrey got in a physical tussle with an underling he was having an affair with in late 2015 and lied to the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau about it.
NYPD investigators determined Maddrey had provided them with inaccurate and misleading statements about the incident on two occasions, and requested formal charges against him for lying that ordinarily would have led to termination.
But Maddrey worked behind the scenes to negotiate a settlement that dismissed those top charges, pleading guilty to three lesser charges that stripped him of 45 days vacation.
Once Maddrey was ensconced as chief of department, Adams moved to protect him in the face of charges he had abused his power.
In a video investigation last year, THE CITY brought to light a 2021 incident in which Maddrey, then the NYPD’s chief of community affairs, acted to void the arrest of a retired colleague who chased three boys with a gun.
The Civilian Complaint Review Board found Maddrey had abused his authority and recommended he be disciplined with the loss of 10 vacation days. It was a recommendation former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell agreed with even as Adams made public statements that Maddrey had acted appropriately in voiding the arrest of Kruythoff Forrester, who had previously worked under Maddrey in Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct.
Adams then took the extraordinary step of asking Sewell not to discipline Maddrey, THE CITY reported — a conversation that a spokesperson for the mayor denied took place. Sewell resigned as police commissioner soon after, the first of four commissioners Adams has appointed thus far.
Maddrey was able put that case to rest earlier this year after former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, a close ally of Maddrey and Adams, ruled that the CCRB did not have the purview to bring an abuse of authority charge.
Remarkably, the only person who was disciplined in that case was the sergeant who determined that Forrester should be arrested after the three boys accurately described Forrester’s gun and where he had pulled it from.
Throughout that case, Adams staunchly defended Maddrey — signalling both publicly and privately that he expected Maddrey’s career to continue unscathed.
“I think the commissioner made the right decision of appointing Chief Maddrey as chief of the department. His years of experience. People just adored him in Brooklyn North,” Adams said in March 2023 when asked about Maddrey’s alleged abuse of authority. “I have the utmost confidence in Chief Maddrey.”
When Adams was pressed on the video evidence of Maddrey’s inappropriate intervention, he said: “I have the utmost respect, confidence in Chief Maddrey and I’m excited that he’s leading my patrol force. I’m excited about it.”
Detailed Complaint
Epps told the New York Post that Maddrey began being generous with overtime a few years ago when she was going through financial hardships while she worked for him in the public affairs bureau.
But she said the extra pay came with requests that she perform personal errands for him outside the office.
Epps told the publication that the demands for sexual favors started in June 2023, when Epps worked in the office of the Chief of Department under Maddrey. She alleged in graphic detail that Maddrey coerced her into a back room of his office that has a couch and a bathroom and initiated sex that she asked him to stop.
“He kept forcing it and forcing it,” Epps told The Post. “And I kept asking him, ‘Can you please stop?”
Epps’ complaint against Maddrey, filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, noted that she had recently come under criminal investigation for filing an inordinate amount of overtime.
Epps wrote in her complaint that her overtime sheets were manipulated by Maddrey through First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella and others “to falsely portray her as an abuser of overtime,” after she tried to put a stop to Maddrey’s alleged sexual demands in October.
Her claim alleges overtime abuse was in fact rampant under the tenure of former Police Commissioner Edward Caban, particularly in the offices of Chief of Patrol John Chell and Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry — a protege of Maddrey who is also close to Adams.
Caban resigned in September after federal investigators seized his cellphone as part of a probe involving his twin brother, James Caban, looking into claims that James advised nightlife establishments to pay him in order to get better treatment from the NYPD.
Recently appointed police commissioner Jessica Tisch said early Saturday that she had accepted Maddrey’s resignation and elevated Chell to serve as interim Chief of Department.
“The NYPD takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, and will thoroughly investigate this matter,” she posted on X.
Mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said City Hall officials are “deeply disturbed” by the allegations against Maddrey.
“Mayor Adams is working in close coordination with Police Commissioner Tisch as the NYPD conducts a separate department-wide review to ensure no high ranking officers are using their power inappropriately,” she said.
An attorney for Epps, Eric Sanders, didn’t respond to emails and a phone call seeking comment. A lawyer for Maddrey, Lambros Lambrou, didn’t respond to multiple inquiries as well.
But Lambrou told the New York Post the claim by Epps was connected to the publicity around her overtime numbers.
“What a convenient time to accuse somebody of misconduct after she’s caught stealing time,” Lambrou told the publication. “She’s obviously drowning and in the deep end of the pool without a lifesaver. She wants to take down as many people as she can. This is completely meritless, and we deny every aspect of it.”
Maddrey’s departure is the latest in a string of exits under pressure of top Adams aides who have found themselves under scrutiny from state or federal prosecutors, or from lawsuits alleging misconduct, in the realm of public safety — the signature issue for the mayor.
Adams’ close pals Philip Banks III, the former deputy mayor of public safety, and Timothy Pearson, a former cop who was playing a heavy-handed role in policing and security, both resigned in October after their cell phones were seized by federal investigators.
Caban and Maddrey have also been close with Adams, as was Tarik Sheppard, the former Deputy Commissioner of Public Information who Tisch announced last week will be replaced in January.
Despite consistently referring to the police department as “my police department,” Adams, a former cop who rose to the rank of captain during a 22-year career at the NYPD, has yet to take responsibility for the turmoil engulfing the NYPD.
Instead, he has claimed that the departures of Pearson and Banks — as well as four other close aides who have also left the administration under a cloud — came because they got worn out by the heavy grind of government work.
Maddrey is the third current or former NYPD member in the Adams administration to face allegations of sexual abuse or harassment.
Adams himself was hit with a civil lawsuit last year claiming he sexually assaulted a female officer decades ago who had come to him for help getting a promotion. Adams has vehemently denied the allegations.
Pearson, who resigned after federal investors seized his cellphone, was the subject of four lawsuits claiming he sexually harassed an underling and retaliated against her and three NYPD colleagues who stood up for her.
One of the lawsuits notes that the head of the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau, Chief Miguel Iglesias, whom the lawsuit alleges helped facilitate the retaliation against the four Pearson subordinates, was a close associate of Pearson.
Late Saturday, Tisch announced that Iglesias had been “relieved of his command” and will retire.
