The disgraced former top cop on Long Island who had been arrested in a prostitution sting has had two of the four charges he faces dropped, according to the county executive's office.
Former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke had been arrested on Aug. 22 at Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Selden, after a law enforcement source told NBC New York that the county park rangers set up a sting operation at the spot.
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.
The charges of criminal solicitation and offering a sex act were dropped on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County executive's office said. Burke still faces indecent exposure and public lewdness charges, however.
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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 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.
"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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It was not the first time the former chief got 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.
