Jail Guard Charged with Groping Coworker

Rikers Guard Groped by Fellow Guard - Prosecutors Say

A guard on Rikers Island has been charged with sexually assaulting a female guard. -File Photo

BRONX - A guard on Rikers Island has been charged with sexually assaulting a female coworker at the jail. 

Carlos Ozorio, 38, an 11-year veteran of the DOC, was arrested and arraigned on a misdemeanor complaint charging forcible touching, third-degree sexual abuse and second-degree harassment before Bronx Criminal Court Judge Matthew Grieco. He is due back in court on June 7, 2023.

 

“We will hold accountable anyone who commits a crime in the jails, and workplace sexual abuse will not be tolerated,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. “The victimized officer was performing her job and was allegedly abused by a colleague, someone she should be able to trust in place where correction staff are victims of violence by inmates.”

 

Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said, “No person – and no City employee -- should be subject to sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace. The defendant’s alleged conduct toward a fellow officer is not only a violation of Department of Correction policies and his duty as a City Correction Officer, it is a crime. I thank the Department of Correction for referring the complaint and the Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark for prosecuting this important case, which makes clear that the charged conduct is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

 

According to the investigation by the Department of Investigation and the Bronx District Attorney’s Public Integrity Bureau, at approximately 9:30 a.m. on December 5, 2020, inside of a Riker’s Island Headquarters trailer facility, the defendant came up behind the victim, and grabbed her breast and vagina while kissing her neck. After the victim pushed herself away from the defendant, he slapped her buttocks.

 

A complaint is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.