Crime and Public Safety | Ex-NYPD captain accused in Yankee Stadium sex…

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Ex-NYPD captain accused in Yankee Stadium sex assault suit was once accused
of stalking 4-year-old Queens girl

Former NYPD Capt. Jeffrey Brienza.

By Rocco Parascandola | rparascandola@nydailynews.com | New York Daily News

PUBLISHED: December 2, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. | UPDATED: December 2, 2023 at 7:04 p.m.

A long-ago feud between Queens neighbors involving allegations of trespassing and stalking of a
preschool girl has resurfaced in a lawsuit accusing an NYPD captain of raping an officer.

Ex-NYPD Capt. Jeffrey Brienza — who is accused in a sex attack lawsuit brought by former NYPD
Officer Gillian Roberts — moved with his family out of their home in Glendale after a neighbor
accused him in 2006 of repeatedly sneaking up to his house to leer at his daughter when she was 3
and 4 years old.

The neighbor, David Broderick, says in an April deposition that he filed a complaint with the NYPD
Internal Affairs Bureau and that investigators suggested that if he dropped the matter, they could
have Brienza leave the neighborhood.

Brienza’s home was sold in 2007, according to records.

The NYPD refused to answer any questions about the investigation, but Broderick remembers being
told his complaint was deemed unfounded. Brienza — who was not criminally charged after Roberts
accused him of rape — in his lawsuit deposition denied trespassing or staring at Broderick’s daughter.

“I never went by his house,” Brienza said. In a previous unrelated disciplinary matter, he testified that
he moved to get away from a neighbor who “staged some sort of campaign of intimidation,” “stalked”
his wife and “constantly called the Police Department to make allegations” against him.

Roberts’ lawyer Fred Lichtmacher, who filed the suit before Brienza’s October 2022 firing from the
NYPD, asks in a motion filed as part of the case that the Police Department produce records of the
Internal Affairs Bureau’s 2006 investigation of Brienza, who was a lieutenant at the time.

Former NYPD Capt. Jeffrey Brienza. (Twitter / @NYPD44Pct)

The records could help show the NYPD bears some responsibility for Brienza’s alleged attacks on
Roberts, who worked for him in the Bronx on the Yankee Stadium detail, Lichtmacher said. Brienza,
Lichtmacher said, should have been fired when he was accused by his neighbor.

“They knew he had a problem, and they kept him in his position,” Lichtmacher told the Daily News.
“They actually promoted him and put him in charge of even more people. They got him to move — but
then he became a problem to a whole different set of people.”

Broderick testified that Brienza’s stalking was such a concern, he installed an 8-foot-high barrier gate
to keep Brienza away from his home and daughter.

The Broderick family moved to Florida years ago, after Brienza sold his home, but the barrier remains.

A barrier gate installed by David Broderick because he said he wanted to keep then-NYPD Lt. Jeffrey Brienza away from his young
daughter is pictured on Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens on Nov. 15. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News)

The story of the alleged stalking and peeping emerged in Roberts’ $35 million Bronx Supreme Court
lawsuit filed in 2021. In the lawsuit, Roberts accuses Brienza of raping her multiple times.

Brienza was assigned to the 94th Precinct, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, when Broderick complained
about him.

Ina deposition, Broderick says Brienza trespassed on his property roughly six times in 2006. During
those occasions, Broderick charged, Brienza stared through a window at his daughter.

“On one occasion that just stands out in my mind, it was raining outside and I couldn’t get to the door
fast enough,” Broderick said in the deposition. “And I actually chased him around the block because he
saw me coming and he took off.”

The encounter “unnerved” his daughter, Broderick testified, and by the time he learned the identity
and occupation of the stranger, he had already installed the barrier gate.

He recalled the Internal Affairs Bureau Bureau was concerned enough that investigators posed a
scenario to him that several police sources described as highly unusual.

“Iremember … they said, ‘Would this go away if he moved?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely,’ ” Broderick
testified. “I just wanted him away from my family.”

””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’The entrance to the NYPD

substation at Yankee StadiumBrienza and his lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

Roberts, who joined the force in 1998, filed her lawsuit in December 2021.

She alleged Brienza raped her “nearly every game day” for a year. She charges that Brienza showed
her preferential treatment at work and then treated her like she was on the detail strictly for his
sexual gratification.

Roberts contacted Internal Affairs early in 2021 and retired that November, one month before filing
her suit.

She later alleged Brienza drilled a peephole in his office wall, allowing him to peer into the locker room
for female officers.

Lichtmacher said the Bronx district attorney’s office was aware of the allegations but did not present
the case to a grand jury.

The city Law Department, which represents the city in Roberts’ lawsuit, had no comment, and
Brienza’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.

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