NYPD Chaos: Top Uniformed Officer Resigns as Allegations of Sexual Misconduct Surface

The top uniformed officer in the NYPD, Jeffrey Maddrey, resigned on Dec. 20 after explosive allegations by a former lieutenant who racked up huge overtime pay that he forced her to have sex in exchange for OT.

The NY Post,which first broke the story, said that Lt. Quathisha Epps was in deep financial trouble and facing foreclosure on her home when she claimed Maddrey began okaying huge overtime for her, in exchange for sex, often in his back office at NYPD HQ at One Police Plaza.

“I think he is a predator,” she told the Post. In her complaint with the human rights division of the EEOC, Epps claims, that Maddrey “engaged in quid quo pro sexual harassment by exploiting her emotional and financial vulnerabilities, as well as her history of childhood trauma, to coerce her into performing unwanted sexual favors, in exchange for overtime opportunities in the workplace.”

The Adams Administration which in the past had given cover to Maddrey when he came under fire in earlier sexual harassment allegations, appears to be rapidly backing away now.

“Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch accepted the resignation of Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey Friday [Dec. 20], the NYPD said in a statement on Dec. 21. “The NYPD takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, and will thoroughly investigate this matter. Chief John Chell will now serve as Interim Chief of Department, and Chief Philip Rivera will now serve as Interim Chief of Patrol. The NYPD declines further comment at this time.”

Tisch also relieved the chief of internal affairs, Miguel Iglesias of his responsibilities on Dec. 20, reportedly because he blew off her insistence that he investigate the OT pay that Maddrey and other top brass were doling out to their staffers. “Above all else, the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau must always be dedicated to preserving integrity and rooting out corruption in all its forms,” Tisch wrote on X. “It is an essential function that is crucial to maintaining honor and nobility in the profession and preserving public trust.”

It comes shortly after Tarik Sheppard was removed as deputy commissioner of public information. Sheppard, known to be volatile had spared with reporters in the past and restricted access to some NYPD documents. In November, he made the mistake of getting into a public scuffle with Tisch’s predecessor acting commissioner Tom Donlon during a photo op at the NYC Marathon. Maddrey was on the scene that day and reportedly stepped between them.

Delaney Kempner, who spent the past four years as director if communications for NYS Attorney General Letitia James, was tapped to replace Sheppard.

While the explosive details from Epps, first revealed by the Post were getting the most publicity, the deeper potential problems within the department may actually be contained in the wider charges filed by Epps with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in which she charges a number of current top level NYPD officials in the discrimination claim.

There is also a pending sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a Captain Gabrielle Walls who had added Maddrey’s name to her list of high ranking officers she was suing only days before his surprise resignation.

An earlier sexual harrasment claim filed by Tabatha Foster, another former officer, accused him of making repeated sexual advancement against her, but in 2019, a federal judge dismissed her case, and a state suit against Maddrey in NYS Supreme Court was dismissed this year.

The Epps claims have drawn the attention of the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

In one of the most explosive claims, Epps told the Post that Maddrey bent her over a sofa in his 13th floor office at Police HQ and forced her to have anal sex. “I kept asking him, ‘Can you please stop’,” she said, “then I stopped asking him.”

She had sex at least ten times with Maddrey, from 2023 until recently she told the Post. She also said that Maddrey would order her to strip for him.

Epps had worked with Maddrey for a number of years, but told the Post the sex demands did not start until 2023 as she faced foreclosure on her home.

The Post had previously disclosed that she was the top earner in the NYPD, pulling in an annual salary of over $400,000 in the current fiscal year, that ended at the end of June. The web site Seethroughnyc.net reported her compensation in the 2024 fiscal year of $403,816 on a base salary of only $164,477, meaning she racked up nearly $240,000 in OT.

In addition to facing foreclosure on her home, Epps told the Post she was also a past incest survivor and that Maddrey used that knowledge against her.

“I think he is a predator,” she told the Post.

She said in the EEOC complaint that in October 2024, Epps “finally developed the courage to reject Chief Maddrey’s advances and he retaliated against her by opening an OT investigation and “orchestrating an intentionally manipulated monthly overtime report” through two other NYPD officers.

She also claimed “the monthly overtime report was intentionally manipulated to hide the true number of of overtime abusers, thoughrout the departemnt throught the former Police Commissioner Edward A. Caban’s Administration and in the current administration, expescially in the offices of the first deputy commissioner of operations, Kaz Doughtry, chief of department, Chief of Patrol John M. Chell and others,” according to Epps complaint with the EEOC.

In one of the more bizarre claims in her complaint, she said that Maddrey made her kickback some of her overtime pay his way, by requiring Epps to “fund a trip to Miami for [Maddrey] and his wife” Helen.

She also claimed an investigation into her overtime was in retaliation after she rejected Maddrey’s advances ansd that others have experienced similar retaliation.

”This pattern demonstrates a systemic failure within the department to address and rectify complaints of sexual harassment and abuse of authority, furthern enabling a hostile work environment...”

While Epps story is the most explosvie, it’s not the first sexual harassment charge against Maddrey. The New York Times reported that just last week, Captain Gabrielle Walls, claimed that Maddrey had repeatedly made sexual advances on her and she was forced to hide in her office on more than a dozen occasions to avoid advances from him. She told the Times that if he found her, “I knew it was when the kissing would start.” Days before he resigned, Walls added his name to a lawsuit she had filed against top brass executives at the NYPD.

Tabatha Foster, a former officer, sued Mr. Maddrey, accusing him of making persistent sexual advances but a a federal judge dismissed her case and her state suit against Mr. Maddrey was dismissed this year.

Straus News was not able to reach Lambros Lambrou, an attorney who has represented Maddrey in the past, on the latest claims against him. Epps’ attorney, Eric Sanders, said in a letter he sent to NYPD Commissioner Tisch that the suspension imposed on his client in the wake of an investigation into her overtime pay should be rescinded now that Maddrey has resigned.