Feds investigating former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey amid overtime, sex accusations
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- Federal prosecutors are now investigating former NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who has been suspended following accusations involving sex and overtime.
Maddrey was once the highest-ranking uniformed NYPD officer and is now the subject of a department and criminal investigation.
On Thursday, investigators showed up with search warrants at several locations linked to Maddrey, including his home.
On December 21, Lt. Quathisha Epps, a 19-year veteran of the department, filed an EEOC complaint stating, "Between June 2023 and December 16, 2024" Maddrey exploited her "emotional and financial vulnerabilities, as well as her history of childhood trauma" in order to "coerce her into performing unwanted sexual favors."
The allegations prompted Maddrey to abruptly step down. A week later, Maddrey and his attorney, publicly addressed the alleged misconduct.
"Lieutenant Epps got caught with her hand in the cookie jar and is trying to deflect her wrongdoing by making these allegations," said Maddrey's attorney Lambros Lambrou.
But the attorney for Lt. Epps immediately fired back in a written statement that read in part, "While his legal team attempts to frame this as a consensual relationship, the facts and evidence tell a far more troubling story of abuse of power, manipulation, and predatory behavior within the NYPD. Let me be unequivocally clear: there can be no "consent" in a workplace where one individual wields immense power over another's livelihood."
Mayor Eric Adams also addressed the disturbing allegations just this past Tuesday.
"His policing practices and what he has done as a police officer, the knowns. I have been extremely, extremely proud of those knowns. Those are the things that people knew him for and what he has done," Adams said.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch released the following statement:
At my direction, the Internal Affairs Bureau of the New York City Police Department is working with law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations against former Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey. Maddrey was suspended from the Department this morning, as law enforcement agents executed search warrants at several locations, including his residence."
According to department records, Lt. Epps, Maddrey's personnel officer, worked more than 1,600 hours of overtime in the fiscal year of 2024, bumping her salary to $406,515, and also showed Detective Ingrid Sanders, Maddrey's driver, with more than 1,400 hours of overtime, bumping her salary to $352,462.
Additionally, NYPD Deputy Chief Paul Saraceno was placed on modified assignment on Wednesday afternoon. Saraceno, who oversaw overtime approval, is the commanding officer of the Chief of Department's office and was essentially Maddrey's second in command.
Eyewitness News has also learned another search warrant was executed last week at the 14th-floor office of Maddrey at One Police Plaza in connection to the allegations made by Epps, which are being investigated by that Manhattan District Attorney's office, which is separate from the federal search warrant executed on Thursday.
"This case was the fraudulent submission of overtime, from what I understand," said retired NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. "By man, additionally, you have several people transferred out of Chief Mallory's office, many of whom are retired. So, this is the entire 14th floor, pretty much of the NYPD has been affected by this, and this is not something we see every day."
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