A police officer might face a grand jury early this week on charges he raped a woman at gunpoint in an Inwood courtyard.
Michael Pena, 27, is behind bars on a $1 million bond and is scheduled to be back in court Wednesday. He was charged with first-degree rape, criminal sexual act and predatory sexual assault.
Prosecutors said Pena, who was off duty from his assignment to a Washington Heights precinct, approached a 25-year-old teacher around 6 a.m. Friday, asking directions to the 1 train. Then, they say, he showed his 9 mm. gun and forced her through an alley behind a building near 217th Street.
Family members and a lawyer for the three-year veteran worked to dispute the charges.
“My son is innocent,” his father, Persio Pena, told the Daily News. “He’s not the kind of person who would do that.”
Pena’s attorney, Juan Campos, did not return a call for comment. In court, Campos suggested alcohol might have been involved.
An NYPD spokesman said Pena was suspended without pay the day of the incident.
The arrest comes nearly three months after two former cops, Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata, were acquitted of charges they raped a drunk woman they were called to help.
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.
