Carlos Martinez, the prison guard who allegedly raped a woman for 3 years
Brooklyn, NY — A woman claiming that she had been raped repeatedly by a guard at a federal jail in Brooklyn where she was detained broke down in tears as she was asked to identify the suspect.“I can’t,” said the 31-year old Dominican woman and former prisoner through a Spanish interpreter, who is being referred to as Maria during the court proceedings to protect her privacy, as she avoids looking at the accused.
After quite a while, she identified a picture of Lt. Carlos Martinez, a 47-year old jail guard, as the one who raped her. In her testimony, she said Martinez forced her to perform oral sex and raped her on a desk in a deserted office in December 2015, and told her it was safe sex because he had a vasectomy and even managed to sneak a morning-after pill for her.
Prosecutor Nadia Shihata said that Martinez used his authority and cunning to have his way with the inmate. Maria, who was serving a three-year sentence at the Metropolitan Detention Center for acting as a drug courier, stayed quiet at that time due to Martinez’ threat of locking her in solitary confinement.
“I didn’t want any problems,” Maria told prosecutor Shihata through a Spanish interpreter. “I didn’t want to be there a single day longer… He’s a man who has a certain position. Who’s going to believe a person who’s a criminal versus a person who has a position, a life? No.”
Prosecutors claim that Martinez raped Maria four more times until she was released in April 2016.
Defense Attorney Anthony Ricco attacked the credibility of Maria, telling that she had conflicting statements about her history and that she only revealed the alleged attacks after facing deportation and filing a $20 million lawsuit.
Attorney Ricco did not specify whether the sex was consensual or not, but he said, “Let’s be sure the manipulation, guile, and scheming fails in this court.”
Prosecutor Shihata, however, believes that their evidence is strong as they are verifying that on that night that the raping incident happened, Martinez bought an anti-pregnancy pill at a Rite Aid near his home and even used his rewards card to get a $5 discount.