Pasadena officer still employed after sex in patrol car

PASADENA, TX (KTRK) -- Eyewitness News has obtained the dashcam video that led to the suspension of a Pasadena police officer. Officer Jeff Mubarak was suspended for 30 days earlier this year after the department learned he had sex in his patrol car with a woman who was part of the citizen ride-along program.

The video obtained by Eyewitness News under the Freedom of Information Act took place in August 2015. In the video, a young woman can be seen sitting in the passenger side of Officer Mubarak's police car. Within minutes, she is seen rubbing Officer Mubarak's shoulder. Shortly after that, they embrace and kiss.

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Pasadena PD says this incident happened while Officer Mubarak was on duty. He and the young women were parked in a secluded parking lot. After the recording became known months later, he was placed on 30 days leave. Now he is back on the job.

"I think the punishment is light," said Tom Nixon, a former Houston Police Officer who was fired from his job a decade ago for speaking out.

Now a practicing attorney, we showed Nixon the just released video. At one point, the woman leans into the officer and disappears from the video frame. The officer can be heard moaning, and then the police scanner crackles to life. At that point, the video is redacted.

The redacted portion of the video lasts for approximately 23 minutes.

The Texas AG's office says the redaction is allowed because, "the portion of that video would be highly intimate or embarrassing, the publication of which would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person and of no legitimate public concern."

Nixon says even the redacted video shows plenty.

"It's going to diminish his credibility as an officer for the remainder of his tenure as an officer. There is not deleting it, no expunging it, it's in the public record. People hold police officers to a higher standard higher stand for a reason, it's because they have the power to take away people's liberty."

Eyewitness News tried to talked to Officer Mubarak. No one answered the door, even though his police car was in the driveway.

Pasadena police tells Eyewitness News that ride-along policies have been tightened since the incident. Each citizen is only allowed one ride-along every six months, and cannot ride with close friends or relatives. The department says the woman in the video did at least 20 ride-alongs within six months.

And at least one veteran attorney says while the video is embarrassing, it should not cost a good officer his career.

"This is simply foolish and amusing and embarrassing," said Houston attorney Pat McCann. "It is not a crime it's not a breach of public trust. It is a grown man and woman doing something they will regret."