By Jeff Lipton
A Nassau County police officer who has been on the force for three months in the Fourth Precinct was arrested on Saturday and charged with the rape and sodomy of a 30-year-old woman in a park in North Woodmere after he had made a traffic stop of the car in which she was riding, officials said.
Police Officer Jay Seifert, 30, was charged with rape in the first degree and sodomy in the first degree and official misconduct, investigators said. Nassau County Police Commissioner William Willett immediately suspended Officer Seifert without pay, pending an Internal Affairs Unit investigation, authorities said.
"This conduct as reported is a reprehensible betrayal of public trust," Inspector Frank Matzen, commanding officer of the Fourth Precinct, said in a statement.
He said details of the incident are "disturbing to me and all the officers in the command, who are very upset by it."
At about 4:45 A.M. October 7, Officer Seifert stopped a car for making a U-turn on Peninsula Boulevard near North Woodmere, investigators said.
Officer Seifert directed the two women who were inside the car to follow him to a small park on Branch Boulevard, police said. The officer ordered the passenger to exit the vehicle and the driver to remain behind the steering wheel, after which he raped and sodomized the 30-year-old woman, police said. The women reported the incident to police, and the woman who was attacked went to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, where she was treated and released, police said.
Nassau County Police, in conjunction with the District Attorney's Office, investigated the woman's complaint of misconduct, and that night, Detective sergeants Louis Algieri and Richard Zito of the Special Victims Squad arrested Officer Seifert. He was arraigned in First District Court in Hempstead on Sunday, October 8, in front of Judge Edward Hart, officials said, and was being held on $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash bail. A spokesperson for the D.A. said he was freed after posting $10,000 bond. A hearing was set for Thursday, October 12, in county court.
An order of protection was issued to the woman, officials said.
Officer Seifert began with the Nassau County Police Department on December 17, 1999, when he was assigned for six months at the county police academy. He has been working the past three months in the Fourth Precinct, Inspector Matzen said. Previously, he worked nine years in the New York City Police Department.
"He was new at the Fourth Precinct. He was still on probation," said Inspector Matzen, adding that Officer Seifert did not have a regularly assigned post in the precinct.
