Three police officers of the group accused of sodomizing a 24-year-old tattoo artist on Oct. 15 in a subway station are to be arraigned today in Brooklyn Criminal Court, according to media reports.

When 24-year-old Michael Mineo, who works at a tattoo parlor in Brooklyn, claimed nearly two months ago to have been assaulted by a group of five police officers, one of them a transit bureau officer, in a Prospect Park subway station and to have been sodomized with what he believed to be a police radio antenna, his story was strongly denied by authorities.

Mineo said at the time he was approached by the group, attacked for no reason and sexually assaulted with the radio antenna.

Police officers said they saw Mineo smoking marijuana; they approached him but Mineo tried to escape by running into the subway. The officers followed him and he resisted arrest. They issued him a summons for disorderly conduct and released him.

A special investigative grand jury examined evidence in the Brooklyn case. The grand jury indictment is still sealed.

An attorney for Officer Richard Kern, 25, accused of having led the group, said Monday that his client has been ordered to surrender to police Tuesday for processing and arraignment. He is expected to be charged with aggravated assault and sodomy with a police baton (not a radio antenna as initially suspected by Mineo).

Officers Alex Cruz and Andrew Morales, both 26, could also face lesser charges of obstruction. A fourth officer, Andrew Jugraf, 30, will not be facing charges, attorneys told Newsday.

The NYPD transit cop, Officer Kevin Maloney, was declared a witness back in October, because he arrived after the alleged assault. He reportedly told investigators that he saw Kern assault Mineo with a police baton. He does not face charges.
The four police officers initially remained on active duty, keeping their guns and shields. Kern and the others accused in the case were given desk jobs when the case erupted so as to protect them from the media.

Mineo’s lawyer, Kevin Mosley, previously said his client checked into Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he spent four days and received treatment for severe abdominal pain and rectal injuries. Mineo returned a week later to hospital with a stomach abscess, related to the attack, the lawyer said. Medical records show that he was diagnosed with “anal assault.”

Mosley is preparing a federal civil rights lawsuit, he has said.

Kern and the other officers maintain they are innocent.