Following his August 2016 indictment, Jose Cosme, 37, of Brooklyn has plead guilty to the third-degree Criminal Sex Act charge. The incident with a female inmate took place on November 30, 2015. Given the inmate is incarcerated, she cannot legally give consent. The sexual assault therefore, took place in a storage closet outside the view of security cameras.
Cosme had been a correctional officer for nine years. He will now be sentenced to 10 years of probation and has to register as a sex offender.
The original charges were first and third-degree rape, first and third-degree Criminal Sex Act, first, second, and third-degree sexual abuse, Sexual Misconduct, and Forcible Touching. Had he not take the plea deal and been convicted of the highest count, Cosme could have faces up to 50 years in state prison.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark released a statement saying, “We will prosecute any jail employee who undermines the public’s trust and tarnishes the honest, hardworking employees of the Department of Correction.”
Cosme’s sentencing is scheduled for August 3 before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Ralph Fabrizio.
Tags: Rikers Island, rape, Bronx
Photo: Courtesy of NYC Department of Investigation
