#NYPD cop illegally taped one-night stand, blackmailed woman: suit

A Queens woman is suing the NYPD and the city after she claims an off-duty cop recorded their one night stand without permission, then threatened to release the clips if she told anyone about the encounter.

Valentina Veleva, 35, alleges that veteran cop Miguel Delacruz recorded her giving him oral sex naked in his Jackson Heights apartment on March 14, 2017, and then told her to leave.

When Veleva tried to contact him the next morning, Delacruz sent her 12 seconds of the lurid clip, and threatened to share it if she told anyone about the encounter, as he is married with a child, court papers said.

Veleva also alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that Delacruz threatened her by texting, “Got more [pornographic clips]” and claiming he “didn’t know why Valentina was complaining about it because Valentina is probably the fiftieth girl he had recorded.”

“When he sent me the first video I dropped my phone and I didn’t know how to react at that point,” Veleva told The Post by phone.

The pair had known each other for about a year as they both frequented a bar and hookah lounge in Astoria. They had sex that night after an “obviously intoxicated” Delacruz drove her back to his place, the court papers allege.

After she left at 3 a.m., Delacruz allegedly told Veleva that “he had cameras in his apartment and that he had recorded Valentina.” And he “threatened Valentina that he would disseminate the recordings if she did not keep her mouth shut,” the court filing alleges.

Upon seeing the videos, with the realization that Delacruz was “a popular guy in Valentina’s circle of friends,” she suffered, “humiliation, anxiety, terror and paranoia that Delacruz either already disseminated this … or that he soon would,” the court papers allege.

“He made fun of me and told me I’m the 50th girl that he recorded,” Veleva said. “He said he didn’t know why I made it such a big deal. I just started crying.”

“I was embarrassed, but mostly I was scared because you know how something like that can circle around on the internet,” Veleva said.

Veleva reported the incident to the NYPD, the DA’s office and even initiated a Family Court proceeding but Delacruz still hasn’t been criminally charged with unlawful surveillance, the court papers claim.

Veleva said she’s “continued to call” the DA’s office, has written to DA Melinda Katz but has been “mocked and treated unprofessionally by high level members of the Queens County District Attorney’s Office who have called her credibility into question,” the court documents allege.

Veleva also says there was a conflict of interest into the probe of Delacruz as NYPD Sergeant Cliff Nieves was assigned to look into the matter at the same time that he himself was being investigated by the DA’s office.

Nieves was arrested on Sept. 12, 2018 in a major bust of cops allegedly involved in a gambling and prostitution ring. He pleaded not guilty in that case which is still pending trial.

Veleva says the DA’s office should have recused itself from her case as it “created a clear conflict of interest by investigating both Sergeant Cliff Nieves and allowing Sergeant Cliff Nieves to investigate Delacruz; both investigated by the Public Integrity Unit,” the suit charges.

“I’m hoping that I’m going to have some kind of justice at the end of the day because it’s just not fair,” Veleva said.

“It is disgusting how the NYPD and the Queens DA mishandled this case from the beginning, and they continue to victimize this young lady by refusing to take her complaint seriously,” said her lawyer Joe Murray. “We are seeking to correct that now.”

Veleva is suing for unspecified damages.

A lawyer for Delacruz did not immediately return request for comment.

“We take every complaint of this nature very seriously, and Ms Veleva’s was no exception. This matter was thoroughly and carefully reviewed before investigators determined there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a criminal case,” a Queens DA spokesperson said.

A spokesman with the city Law Department said, “we’ll review this case.”