Former Rikers officer sentenced to two years in prison for sex abuse

Anthony Martin Jr. was sentenced to two years prison time after being found guilty by a jury of luring a woman to his home and sexually abusing her. AP file photo Seth Wenig

By Noah Powelson

A former Rikers Island correctional officer who was convicted last December of sexually abusing a woman in his Queens home was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday.

Anthony Martin Jr., 33, will spend the next two years behind bars after a jury found him guilty of sexually abusing a woman who had been promised a role in a show Martin Jr. claimed he was producing.

Martin Jr., who has separately been accused by several other women of sexual abuse while working as an officer in the city’s jails, was also ordered to serve three years of post-release supervision and to register as a sex offender. Queens Supreme Court Justice Gia Morris issued the sentence on Monday after granting the defendant several extensions.

Calling the situation “a very hard case,” Morris rejected Martin Jr.’s request for a non-incarceration punishment and prosecutors' request for a six-year sentence, electing to go for a middle option.

Before his sentence, Martin Jr. denied the accusations made against him and accused prosecutors of withholding or manipulating evidence to misrepresent him as a predator. Martin Jr. all but begged Morris to issue a sentence that didn’t involve prison time.

“It is unfair,” Martin Jr. said before his sentencing. “Please have mercy, please have a heart.”

The courtroom was filled with family and friends of the former correctional officer as they hoped for a shorter sentence. The victim in the case, who testified against Martin Jr. during the November trial, was not present during sentencing.

As Morris sentenced Martin Jr. to two years imprisonment, muffled tears from the gallery echoed throughout the courtroom.

As Martin Jr. was handcuffed, he looked to his gathered family and friends, and was heard saying, “Be strong, I love you,” before being taken away.

Martin Jr.’s attorney, Jason Russo, said they plan to appeal the case.

Martin Jr. was accused of luring a woman – a dancer and aspiring actress – to his parent’s home under false pretenses, telling her that he was working on creating a TV show when he actually was only hoping for a romantic relationship.

Prosecutors argued during trial and maintained during sentencing that no such film projects ever existed, and that the defendant frequently attempted to take their text conversations from professional to romantic or sexual in nature. Martin Jr. denied these allegations during sentencing, saying his history in film is well known.

Martin Jr.’s former high school counselor, who himself is a filmmaker, testified at trial that the guard had previously reached out to him to discuss developing the show.

Martin Jr. and the woman, who he found through social media, texted for several weeks before they arranged for her to come to his parents’ home, where he lived, on March 26, 2024. Martin Jr. sent an Uber to pick the actress up, and for hours the two ran acting drills in his bedroom.

Later that day, Martin Jr. offered to give the victim a massage, claiming he was a licensed massage therapist. The woman, who said she had received dozens of massages over the course of her life as a dancer, agreed. But during the massage, Martin Jr. put his fingers in her vagina without consent, and she eventually kicked up her legs and ran to the bathroom to dress herself and order an Uber.

Once in the car, she texted her friend about the incident.

“This man literally assaulted me,” her text read.

After reporting the incident to the police, the woman made a “controlled call” to Martin Jr. in an attempt to get him to admit to the assault.

“I was telling you to stop and you didn’t,” the woman said to Martin Jr. on the recorded call, which was played for jurors during the trial.

“Yeah, I apologize for that,” he replied.

The trial against Martin Jr. ran for about a week, and the jury deliberated for several days before issuing a verdict. He was acquitted of two rape charges but was found guilty of sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment.

“Anthony Martin Jr. lured a young woman to his Springfield Gardens home by claiming he was a television producer and that he was casting for roles in an upcoming television show,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement when he was convicted. “Instead, the defendant – a sworn correction officer – sexually abused the 20-year-old and held her against her will.”

As a former correctional officer on Rikers, Martin Jr.’s attorney requested an order of protection for his safety in the city’s jails while he waits to be moved to an upstate prison, which the judge granted.

But while Martin Jr. is currently serving time, his legal fights are far from over. The former officer also faces several civil lawsuits from other women who claimed he exhibited similar behavior while he worked on Rikers. The multiple accusations made against Martin Jr. were first reported by Gothamist.

These allegations were not brought up during his sentencing on Monday, but at least three women who were once detained on Rikers Island said Martin Jr. sexually assaulted them while he was working as a guard.

One of the women was Karina Collado, who said the then-officer forced his fingers into her vagina while holding her down inside an office in the jail complex. Collado brought forward a civil lawsuit against Martin Jr. in May of 2023, about a year before he was arrested for the assault of the actress.

Simone Morgan, another former detainee, claimed Martin Jr. grabbed her breasts and buttocks both over and under her clothing on five to 10 occasions in 2018.

A third former detainee, Jessica Brenner, accused Martin Jr. of sexual abuse in a September 2024 federal lawsuit, which claimed he forced Brenner and other women to strip, dance and touch each other. The lawsuit was settled on Oct. 31, a couple of weeks before Martin Jr.’s criminal trial began.

The Department of Correction allowed Martin Jr. to continue his work as a correctional officer after the lawsuit was filed by Collado in 2023. It wasn’t until the officer’s arrest in April 2024 that the DOC suspended Martin Jr. without pay.

He was fired after being found guilty of sexual abuse in December.