Suffolk County’s disgraced former police chief is facing charges of soliciting a prostitute. Greg Cergol reports.
A disgraced former top cop on Long Island was arrested in a prostitution sting after allegedly exposing himself and trying to solicit a sex worker at a park, officials announced.
Former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke was arrested around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday at Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Selden, the county executive's office said. A law enforcement source told NBC New York that the county park rangers set up a sting operation at the spot in the middle of County Road 83.
Burke, 58, was accused of soliciting a male prostitute and exposing himself. He was charged with public lewdness, indecent exposure, criminal solicitation and offering a sex act, according to the county executive's office.
An attorney for Burke could not be reached. The Suffolk County District Attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said county park rangers made the arrest at the start of an undercover operation, responding to complaints about sexual solicitation at the park. The rangers apparently had not realized, at first, they had arrested the disgraced former chief of the department.
At the time of his arrest, the commissioner said Burke tried to use his name to avoid arrest.
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"He was expressing to us how this would be a public humiliation for him," Sgt. Brian Quattrini, with the park rangers, said.
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This is not the first time the former chief has gotten in trouble with the law. He was released from federal prison in 2018 after serving time for beating a handcuffed man who stole a duffel bag from his vehicle and then trying to cover up the assault.
The former chief's name has resurfaced in recent days following the arrest of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann. Critics have long claimed Burke set back the murder investigation by refusing help from the FBI.
Burke led the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the nation’s largest police forces, between 2012 and 2015, a tumultuous three-year period that ended with the conviction of Burke and multiple other officials on federal charges of obstruction and assault.
