Two former NYPD officers who allegedly robbed and assaulted a sex worker in Queens may finally face consequences, after slipping through the cracks of state prosecution.
As reported in Gothamist, Justin Colon, 24, and Justin McMillan, 26, responded to a prostitution complaint on the evening of July 19, 2024 at an 89th Street building in the Roosevelt Avenue area. After reporting the incident as resolved, the two shut off their body cameras and stole a key from a woman exiting the building. In the early morning hours the following day, the officers returned to the building and entered with the stolen key, where they found a sex worker in bed with a customer, who fled the scene. The two allegedly groped the naked woman and stole $200 from her purse. Though charged criminally, the case was previously dismissed on a technicality—the office of Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz “failed to certify readiness for trial within the mandated timeframe,” meaning that the prosecution’s delay in being ready for trial led to the case’s dismissal.
However, on Tuesday, March 10th Colon and McMillan were charged at the federal level with felony conspiracy against rights in connection with the 2024 incident in Jackson Heights.
While Decrim NY is encouraged to hear that federal prosecutors wish to hold the two accountable, this case is simply one instance in a string of human rights violations perpetrated against sex workers along Roosevelt Avenue and elsewhere in the city.
Sexual violence perpetrated by the NYPD is an ongoing issue; according to a survey of nearly 4,000 New Yorkers conducted by Communities United for Police Reform, 19% of respondents reported experiencing police sexual violence in their lifetime. Meanwhile, the NYPD union continually fights against civilian oversight of sexual misconduct investigations, NYPD officers have been caught operating prostitution rings twice, sentenced to prison for conspiring to sex traffic a minor, and, most recently, arrested, charged, and prosecuted for sexually assaulting women in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
Former Mayor Eric Adams’ so-called “quality of life” improvement initiative, Operation Restore Roosevelt, launched in Jackson Heights in October 2024, shortly after the alleged crimes committed by Colon and McMillan. In the sixteen months since ORR’s inception, sex workers have been targeted by aggressive police tactics aimed at hiding their labor from public view. Though Katz’s office has stated that they are “focused on prosecuting human traffickers and individuals operating and patronizing illicit brothel establishments,” arrest data shows that arrests for the crime of prostitution outnumber arrests for sex trafficking five to one. Though sex workers are present throughout the city, arrests are overwhelmingly concentrated in Queens, and are enormously racially biased—the same report shows that nearly 95% of prostitution charges in 2025 were centered in the borough, and not a single sex worker arrested last year was white.
Katz is currently the only NYC District Attorney actively enforcing prostitution charges, despite her campaign promises to the contrary and her claims to bring fairness to the judicial system, regardless of race or immigration status. McMillan and Colon’s alleged crimes did not occur in a vacuum, but rather as one scene in a coherent strategy encouraging racialized over-policing of the Roosevelt Corridor.
Unfortunately, current NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has repeatedly affirmed her approval of excessive police presence in Jackson Heights. She said in a June 2025 statement, “Since the start of ‘Operation Restore Roosevelt,’ the NYPD and our city partners have led a sustained effort to take this corridor back.” This endorsement—and Mayor Mamdani’s continued tolerance of Tisch—raises concerns around the administration’s overall support of marginalized, immigrant populations.
Commissioner Tisch commented that Colon and McMillan’s conduct was a “despicable and a complete violation of the public's trust” and that she “has zero tolerance for misconduct of any kind.”
Decrim NY intends to hold her to her word. We stand by sex workers who experience violence at the hands of police. We will continue to resist the policing of our communities, and fight for our long term goal of statewide decriminalization.
With deep respect for the bravery of this survivor,
Decrim NY