Sabbagh was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on charges of second-degree sexual conduct against a child, second-degree sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child. Despite the heavy charges, he was released without having to pay any bail.
The officer is accused of inappropriately touching his victim’s “private areas” multiple times from June 2005 until June 2008. She was reportedly between 10 and 13 years old at the time of the abuse, but did not report it until she was 16.
Sabbagh has been with the department for approximately six years, but has been most recently assigned to building maintenance. He is now suspended without pay.
According to an unofficial study by the Cato Institute’s National Police Misconduct Reporting Project, sexual misconduct is the second highest of all complaints nationwide against police officers, representing 9.3% of all complaints in 2010. The study also found that 354 of the 618 complaints that year involved non-consensual sexual acts, and over half of those involved where minors.
