New York police officer pleads guilty to sexual relationship with female inmate

Noman Sabit: An NYPD cop was arrested Wednesday for having sex with a woman a few hours after arresting her — and for sending inappropriate messages to two crime victims whose cases for he was investigating.

Officer Matthew Lambert pleaded guilty to three counts of official misconduct in Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday, hours after being arrested. He also pleaded guilty to accepting an illegal gratuity.

“I was shocked when I met you,” Lambert, 33, wrote in a text to the assault victim from his NYPD-issued phone on May 14, 2024, according to prosecutors, calling her “absolutely beautiful.”

“I mean no disrespect to you and your relationship,” he added. “I’m saying this in a respectful way. If that’s even possible.” As part of a plea deal, Lambert was sentenced to two years probation, 100 hours of community service and mandatory counseling. His appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court with his hands cuffed behind his back and a gray hoodie covering his head before his release. Lambert joined the NYPD in 2014 and resigned in December, sources said. Once his sentence is completed, he will be barred from getting a job as a cop in New York state.

“He agrees not to seek recertification or employment as a police officer or certification or employment as a peace officer,” Manhattan District Attorney Tavis DeAtley told Judge Onya Brinson.

Neither he nor his attorney, Jake Lasala, would comment as they left court. About 8:30 p.m. May 20, 2024, Lambert arrested a woman for petty larceny. While he was booking her at the precinct stationhouse, he told her he could “probably” get her a desk appearance ticket so she wouldn’t have to spend a night in a jail cell.

He ultimately did give her a DAT and as he walked her out of the stationhouse told her, “I told you I was going to get you out.”

That night, he sent the woman text messages reading, “If you want I could come say hello. Up to you. You tell me if you want me to.”

The two continued back and forth, talking about him stopping by her home for a “quick hello” when he started sending “sexually explicit photographs” to her over his NYPD-issued phone, according to court papers. “Do you want me to pass by right now? I could leave work early,” he wrote, according to the complaint. “Do you mind just chilling in my car?”

He left work about 12:10 a.m., met up with the woman, who thanked him for getting her a DAT, and had sex with him in his personal car, according to prosecutors

“You’re so cool,” he wrote afterwards. “Thanks for hanging out.”

At about the same time, investigators learned that he was sending unprofessional texts to two women he was investigating cases for, including one he continually asked out for drinks.

“The defendant’s disturbing conduct is unacceptable for a member of law enforcement,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement Wednesday. “In addition to sending extremely inappropriate messages to victims while he was investigating their cases, he abused his power to engage in a sexual encounter with a woman he had arrested just hours earlier.”

“This is not how anyone should be treated – whether a victim, witness, or person accused of a crime,” Bragg continued. “This behavior significantly damages faith in the criminal justice system and discourages people from coming forward to report crimes, which harms public safety.” In 2022, Lambert was assigned to the detective squad in the 13th Precinct in Gramercy Park, where he started investigating cases, officials said.

On March 15, 2024, he was assigned to investigate a missing package case filed by a woman. After interviewing her on his NYPD-issued phone, he tried to charm her with flattering text messages, prosecutors said.

“Not to be inappropriate, but do people tell you that you look way younger than you are?” he texted the woman.

“Celebration drinks when this is over?” he asked in another text. “If you say no, I’m still gonna work hard on your case. I promise.”

He arrested a suspect for swiping the package on April 2, 2024, but between March 18 and May 15 of that year he continued to text the victim. He doubled down when the woman tried to break off communications, telling him she was already seeing someone, prosecutors said.

“lmao,” he wrote. “Full disclosure, I was kinda asking from the angle of being interested in you. But I am also taken. So sorry if it’s annoying that I was asking. You’re just really good looking and seem so cool. I wasn’t trying to complicate your life or cause drama or anything. I would def love to still hang out tho if you do. And like I said. That has nothing to do with the case. I’ll always keep it professional.”

“You don’t owe me anything at all,” he continued. “Just doing my duty LOL.”

On April 23, he sent another text, telling the woman he “wanted to shoot my shot one last time and see if you wanted to hang out some time.”

“If not I understand,” he wrote. “It’s kind of an awkward situation lol.”

On May 15, he texted her once more, again asking her out for drinks, prosecutors said.

“I swear this is the last time I’m asking lol,” he wrote. “You popped into my head and I was just wondering.”

The woman ultimately blocked Lambert’s number, prosecutors said. Around the same time, on March 26, 2024, he did a telephone interview with an assault victim. The suspect in that case was arrested on June 12, 2024. During the course of the investigation, Lambert texted the victim.

“How do you get your teeth so white?” he asked in one text, prosecutors said.

The day before he texted her that she was “absolutely beautiful” text, he wrote, “I have another compliment for you btw if I’m allowed.”

A day after he had sex with the petty larceny suspect, the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau learned of his inappropriate conduct and stripped him of his gun and shield.

He was reassigned to Patrol Service Area 2’s Viper Room — where cops accused of misconduct are often sent — to watch feeds from NYCHA surveillance cameras in north Brooklyn, according to his online personnel page.

He ultimately resigned from the department on Dec. 4, 2025 “in connection with allegations of the above-described misconduct,” prosecutors said in court papers.

An NYPD official said that IAB referred the case to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for prosecution.

Lambert made 96 felony arrests and 101 misdemeanor arrests during his 11-year NYPD career.

He had six complaints filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board with 18 allegations that included force, abuse of authority, and discourtesy, but only three were substantiated. He was named in seven lawsuits that led to $150,000 in payout settlements, according to the website 50-a.org.

*Copyright 2026 Bangla Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

BP/SM