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Updated 04/28/2009 09:51 PM

Two Officers Plead Not Guilty To Rape Charges

By: NY1 News

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Two city police officers pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon to charges in connection with the alleged rape of a Manhattan woman last December.

Officers Franklin Mata, 27, and Kenneth Moreno, 41, were arraigned in state supreme court on charges of rape, burglary and official misconduct.

Moreno faces an additional charge of heroine possession that was allegedly found in his locker.

They both surrendered this morning and are being held on $175,000 bond or $175,000 cash bail.

The officers were said to be responding to a 911 call from a taxi driver, who said a woman got sick in his cab and did not have the fare.

Investigators reportedly obtained surveillance footage showing the officers, in uniform, escorting the woman into her East Village home, and then returning to the building two more times – once for 17 minutes and another time for 34 minutes.

Two Officers Plead Not Guilty To Rape Charges

"The investigation further revealed that while in the apartment, Moreno had sexual intercourse with a physically-helpless victim," said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, "as she laid down on her bed having previously vomited multiple times. Moreno was assisted in doing so by his partner Mata."

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who rarely comments on investigations into police misconduct, says the officers have been suspended from regular duty.

"It is simply outrageous that police officers are summoned to help and alleged to have taking advantage of this woman," Kelly said. "The public needs to know that the police will be there to protect them, and they can know that."

If convicted, they could get up to 25 years in prison.

Both officers are due back in court on May 21st.