NYPD bosses allegedly ogled feminine officers as they undressed by means of a secret gap in a locker-room wall at a Bronx stationhouse, based on a bombshell lawsuit.
The peephole — paying homage to the infamous scene within the 1981 flick “Porky’s,” the place excessive schoolers spy on feminine classmates as they bathe — was hidden behind a pc monitor, a sufferer claimed in court docket papers.
Sgt. Joleen Lozano discovered the obvious spyhole when she labored in a shared supervisors’ workplace on the Proof Assortment Unit on Washington Avenue within the South Bronx, she claimed within the authorized submitting.
Whereas Lozano was “on the point of log into the pc and cost her cellphone, she notices that there’s a gap drilled into the wall which permits anybody within the supervisors’ workplace to look into the locker room by means of the peephole,” based on the Bronx Supreme Courtroom lawsuit filed by lawywer John Scola in September.
Photographs present the outlet was a drilled by means of a wall with a twine hanging out of it, however sufficiently big to see contained in the room the place Lozano, 45, and different supervisors modified their garments. The wire didn’t go anyplace, Scola mentioned.
“The male supervisors of the unit would watch . . . the opposite supervisors of the command change within the locker room,” Lozano claimed within the authorized submitting.
The sergeant — with 20 years on the job — blocked the peephole with a metallic plate and reported it to Inner Affairs, she mentioned.
She additionally filed inner sexual harassment complaints on behalf of herself and three different ladies towards Sgt. Hubert Vandewerp, who frequently referred to as her “Sergeant Ass” and “Sergeant Lips,” in entrance of different officers, together with bosses, based on the lawsuit.
Her feminine colleagues allegedly informed Lozano that Vandewerp, 42, often “made sexually express feedback to them, cursed at them after which referred to as them fats,” she mentioned within the authorized papers.
Quickly after submitting the complaints, Lozano discovered a rat doll in one in all her drawers, and her additional time dried up, based on the lawsuit, which additionally claims retaliation.
A second feminine cop, Vonnavowsky Sanchez, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit towards Vandewerp and different supervisors in December.
Vandewerp would often harass the feminine officers, saying he might “see their vaginas” as a result of their cargo pants had been so tight, Sanchez alleged in her Bronx court docket lawsuit.
“When [Vandewerp] mimics the ladies, he pulls his cargo uniform pants up, exposing his penis and testicles,” she alleged in court docket papers.
He additionally made feedback about ladies he mentioned had been lesbians, telling different feminine cops, “Watch out or she’s going to eat your t-t,” based on the lawsuit.
One other supervisor, Lt. Gerson Cabrera, additionally allegedly made sexually express feedback, telling one feminine officer “Oh you wish to f–okay me,” Sanchez claimed in court docket papers.
Cabrera allegedly texted the unit’s group chat in October 2025 claiming “he wished to have intercourse with a feminine police officer who was in Pennsylvania similtaneously him,” and labeled the need “Spooky Nookie” as a result of it was round Halloween, Sanchez alleged within the authorized submitting.
A month later, Cabrera stood over Sanchez, 46, as she sat at her desk and when she rotated his crotch was in her face, she alleged.
When Sanchez requested him to maneuver again, he turned “incensed” and stored his “penis . . . inches from [Sanchez’s] face,” based on the lawsuit.
Lozano, who claims she was harassed on a virtually every day foundation, was transferred again to patrol after complaining about Vandewerp. She retired this month. Sanchez remains to be an energetic cop.
Vandewerp was transferred to East Harlem’s twenty fifth Precinct in February “because of the sexual harassment complaints made towards him,” based on the Lozano lawsuit.
“I actually don’t have any remark as a result of the lawsuit is all faux stuff,” Vandewerp mentioned when reached by cellphone Friday. Cabrera declined to remark.
Each lawsuits search unspecified damages.
“These courageous ladies reported rampant sexual harassment throughout the NYPD’s Bronx Proof Assortment Unit, solely to face retaliation and punitive self-discipline from a series of command that shielded the harassers,” lawyer John Scola mentioned.
The NYPD mentioned in an announcement that the allegations had been beneath “inner evaluate.”
“The Division doesn’t tolerate sexual harassment and is dedicated to respectful work environments for our various workforce,” a spokesperson mentioned. “The NYPD totally investigates all complaints it receives and presents a number of reporting choices for NYPD staff, together with anonymously.”
