NYPD Sergeant Accused Of Sexually Abusing Teen Kills Himself

A NYPD sergeant who was accused of sexually abusing an underage girl he met online killed himself on Thursday. Joel Doseau, 43, was found dead in his Brooklyn home of an apparent suicide.

According to Pix 11, a family member of the NYPD sergeant went to his house on Thursday to check on the suspended NYPD sergeant and discovered the body. Officials say that the suspended sergeant inhaled gas fumes and appeared to have died from asphyxiation.

On August 5, the NYPD sergeant was arrested and arraigned in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on 40 criminal counts, which included rape and sexual abuse. The NYPD sergeant had worked for the police department for 12 years at the time he was arrested, according to the New York Times. The NYPD sergeant was charged with four counts of third-degree rape as well as statutory rape since his accuser was under the age for consent when the alleged sexual activities began. The legal age of consent in New York is 17-years-old. Sergeant Doseau was facing 15 years in prison if convicted.

The NYPD sergeant met his accuser online when he asked her to send him sexually explicit pictures. The girl was 14-years-old and lived in a different state then the NYPD sergeant. In 2008, the two began a sexual relation when the girl was 15-years-old, according to the police. The relationship between the underage girl and the NYPD sergeant continued until 2010 when the girl was 17-years-old. Sergeant Doseau lied about his age to the teen, stating that he was younger than 37-years-old and wooed the teen into believing him.

The NYPD sergeant admitted that he knew is actions were “likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare” of the teen. Neighbors of the NYPD sergeant said they had no idea of the life he chose to live and said that his mother would be rolling in her grave at the sight of him being arrested.

According to the New York Daily News, a note was left on the NYPD sergeant’s body saying, “Tell my family I love them.”

[Photo by Spencer Platt/ Getty Images]