EXCLUSIVE

Photo Credits: Hariton Marachilian via Passaic County Superior Court.

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A high-profile NYPD captain is facing multiple felony charges and being held without bail in New Jersey.

Hariton Marachilian allegedly choked, bashed and restrained a lover in what prosecutors allege was a domestic violence assault last December 10 in Patterson. He is charged with kidnapping, two counts of felony assault and criminal coercion for allegedly threatening the victim  if she reported the crime, court records show. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

Marachilian, known as "Harry," is president of an NYPD fraternal organization called the Middle Eastern & Turkic Society. 

Officials refused to name the woman allegedly assaulted by Marachilian.

Marachilian was arrested in New York on December 1. He was held on Rikers Island before waiving extradition to New Jersey, a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney confirmed. Now he’s being held in the Bergen County jail. He was arraigned on Thursday.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Vincenzo Stampone ordered he continued to be jailed pending a bail hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

"I turned myself in at work,” Marchilian complained. “I've been awaiting 7 days for this and I'm awaiting 5 more days.”

Marachilian was already a Marine on 9/11. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003. He joined the NYPD on his return in 2004, rising through the ranks to captain in 2019, his NYPD personnel records show. Since the start of the 2023 Hamas-Israeli War, has been doing outreach to Arab neighborhoods for the NYPD.

Marachilian was the subject of 7 misconduct complaints, according to a database of complaints filed against NYPD officers.  Two were "substantiated," the database says. He allegedly sexually harassed a subordinate former Army soldier-turned-NYPD officer in 2019-2020.

“While reviewing narcotics operation protocols, he has blatantly asked about Claimant’s and her husband’s sex life,” the $5 million lawsuit alleged. The officer alleged  Marachilian asked “Do you have great sex?” and said “You need to have more sex,”  among other things.

The City settled the suit for an undisclosed amount, court records show.

Marachilian himself sued the City and former NYPD inspector James Kobel in July. The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleges violations of his civil rights, discrimination against him based on his race and color and unlawful retaliation. Kobel resigned in disgrace after a City Council oversight committee report found he expressed “racist, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, and homophobic sentiments.”

William J. Quirk, Marachilian's criminal lawyer, declined a request for comment.

The victim, “thought it was more than what it was,” Marachilian claimed. She “found out I was still married—that’s what sparked her anger.”

Chris Monahan, head of the Captains Endowment Association, said he had no comment.

NOTE: This story originally identified the victim as a “bellydancer.” Subsequently, additional reporting revealed she was not a professional bellydancer but an NYPD captain.

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