A decorated female NYPD sergeant specializing in domestic violence cases has filed an unusual defamation lawsuit against a lieutenant for falsely accusing her in his own legal filing of having an affair with a superior, court records show.
Detective Sgt. Christina Ortiz, an 18-year veteran, was honored in 2022 by police brass for protecting an elderly woman who was being fleeced by a menacing con man and for solving a brother-on-brother stabbing.
But since Feb. 15, she’s been forced to counter allegations in a discrimination complaint against the city filed by Lt. Emelio Rodriques and reported in a press release posted by his lawyer and in media outlets.
In his complaint which involves the 34th Precinct in Washington Heights, Rodrigues accused Ortiz of having an affair with Lt. Michael DiSanto.
In her lawsuit, Ortiz contends Rodriques discriminated against female cops in the precinct and falsely accused her because he has his own ax to grind with the NYPD.
“It’s been devastating,” the married mom of three said. “I have to defend myself on something that’s a lie. It has affected my pension, my position, and my image on this job, and anything after this job.”
Ortiz, whose husband is also an NYPD sergeant, says she hasn’t even seen or worked with Rodriques since February 2024 when she transferred to the Internal Affairs Bureau, she alleges, to get away from Rodriques.
One day after she saw his claims, she was so angry she sat down and wrote a 2,252-word complaint against Rodriques and filed it with the NYPD.
“These allegations have no basis to them nor are they true,” she wrote. “I have been publicly humiliated by this man for no reason. I hope that in some way this wrong can be made right.”
A lawsuit for defamation — or a false statement that is published that causes harm — filed by one cop against another cop is so rare that neither Ortiz’s lawyer John Scola nor other attorneys who represent cops could recall another instance.
Scola’s suit alleges “defamation per se,” meaning the statement was so inherently harmful the plaintiff does not need to prove damages. The legal term covers four areas, and Scola says Rodriques’ complaint violates two — falsely accusing someone of sexual misconduct and falsely saying something harmful to a person’s job.
“When a supervisor weaponizes discrimination complaints to cover their own failures, the real victims within the NYPD suffer,” Scola said.
The city is also a defendant in the case for retaliation and creating a hostile work environment.
Rodriques’ lawyer Eric Sanders said in a statement his client “unequivocally stands by his allegations.”
“This is nothing more than a legally baseless attempt to intimidate and silence a whistleblower who dared to challenge the status quo,” he said, adding he will seek legal remedies against Ortiz and her lawyer.
Scola countered, “The only person weaponizing the justice system in this case is Lt. Rodriques. Neither Sergeant Ortiz nor I take his hollow threats, or those of his counsel, seriously.”
Rodriques, a 23-year veteran, arrived at the 34 in January 2023. In 2011, Rodriques lost 35 vacation days for failing to respond to radio runs involving weapons, and failing to supervise his cops, records show.
Tension soon developed between Ortiz and Rodriques over his treatment of female cops, according to her complaint.
The suit alleges Rodriques began assigning overtime to a pregnant sergeant who needed to work day tours so she could be home in the evenings.
He ordered another female cop to work overtime, even though she needed a stable schedule as a single mother with a 9-year-old son, the lawsuit claims. When Ortiz complained, he allegedly said, “I do not give a s–t.”
In June 2023, he tried to change Ortiz’s tour and later tried to cut her overtime, she alleges.
Women are “to be seen and not heard,” he told her at one point, the suit claims.
In both cases, she complained to Lt. Michael DiSanto and the order was overridden, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges Rodriques then started false rumors that Ortiz and DiSanto were romantically involved and also that she was a lesbian.
In early 2024, Ortiz decided to accept a transfer to Internal Affairs to get away from Rodriques, the lawsuit claims. The move cost her roughly $40,000 to $60,000 a month in overtime because IAB overtime is capped, the suit said.
“Sgt. Ortiz faced such relentless harassment from Lt. Rodriques that she had no choice but to leave her position in the 34, forfeiting hundreds of thousands of dollars in income just to escape,” Scola said.
The move also meant her pension would be reduced, the suit estimates, by $30,000 a year or $1.1 million across her lifetime.
“I find it unjust and disturbing that the NYPD would keep a man, who has had multiple complaints in every precinct he’s ever worked in, where he’s constantly harassing and belittling women,” she wrote.
Ortiz expects to be interviewed by Internal Affairs, which is conducting an investigation. Rodriques was transferred out of the 34 in August to the Manhattan Court Section.
