Indecent exposure, public lewdness charges against former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke to be dismissed

A Suffolk judge will dismiss public lewdness and indecent exposure charges against former county Police Chief James Burke at the request of prosecutors who said disciplinary charges against parks police officers involved in his 2023 arrest would have been an impediment at trial.

Suffolk County District Court Judge Eric Sachs said the charges against the disgraced former top cop will be dismissed if he avoids further brushes with law enforcement in the next six months.

“The charges will be dismissed,” Sachs told Burke under the condition he is not rearrested before his next court appearance Oct. 28.

Sachs said Burke completed a "corrective action" program while the case was pending but did not elaborate on the details of the course.

Burke, a convicted felon who served time in federal prison for beating a handcuffed prisoner accused of stealing a gym bag filled with pornography, sex toys and Viagra from the then-chief of department's county-issued SUV in 2012, was arrested in August 2023 after Suffolk park rangers said he solicited sex from a ranger during an undercover sting.

Prosecutors said officers involved in the arrest faced misconduct allegations, preventing the case from continuing.

“Following the arrest of James Burke, three Park Police officers involved in the arrest resigned, including the officer who was alleged to have personally seen the criminal behavior,” the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement sent through its press office. “Based upon disclosures required by New York State law of alleged misconduct, it was determined that the People could not meet the burden at trial. As such, a disposition of an [Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal] is appropriate.”

Burke’s attorney, James O’Rourke, of Smithtown, previously told Newsday the officers violated department policy when they photographed his client while in custody and “charged him with a crime that didn’t exist.”

Suffolk employment records obtained by Newsday show two of the rangers left their jobs in January 2024. They each worked as seasonal park rangers for more than five years, records show. The rangers previously told Newsday they resigned from their positions, though a prosecutor described it in court as a firing.

Burke was at Vietnam Veterans Memorial County Park in Farmingville on the morning of Aug. 22, 2023, when he allegedly pulled down his pants, touched himself "in a sexual manner" and made a statement to an officer about how he enjoys performing a certain sex act, according to police and court records.

Police said at the time of his arrest Burke attempted to use his status as a former law enforcement officer to avoid being arrested. He had a small amount of marijuana and a muscle relaxant at the time of his arrest, a law enforcement source told Newsday at the time. The former chief was not charged with any drug crimes.

The misdemeanor case dragged on for nearly three years, which is not typical.

O’Rourke had said the prosecution of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann was a factor in the delay due to Burke’s close association, and role as a possible witness, in that case.

Heuermann, 62, of Massapequa Park, pleaded guilty April 8 to the killings of seven women: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman, who were killed between 2009 and 2010; Maureen Brainard-Barnes in 2007; Jessica Taylor in 2003; Sandra Costilla in 1993; and Valerie Mack in 2000. He also admitted killing Karen Vergata in 1996, though he never faced charges in her death. He is expected to be sentenced June 17 under a plea agreement that will see him serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Heuermann’s defense team, led by attorney Michael J. Brown, had sought FBI documents he believed could shed light on the FBI’s lack of involvement in the early, crucial days of the Gilgo investigation, when Burke was in charge of the police department.

Brown also looked to introduce Burke, who had known relationships with sex workers and ties to the South Shore communities where the bodies were discovered, as an alternate suspect in the Gilgo Beach case. He had also sought evidence of a proffer agreement between Burke and investigators regarding subject matter related to Heuermann’s case and for information related to the county’s current prosecution of Burke.

O’Rourke said the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office never asked his client to testify before the grand jury that indicted Heuermann.

O’Rourke said Wednesday that Heuermann’s guilty plea enabled his client’s case to move toward dismissal.

Burke, who was Suffolk’s highest-ranking uniformed officer for four years. was arrested in December 2015 after he was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and violating the civil rights of Christopher Loeb, then 26, of Smithtown, and orchestrating a departmental cover-up of the crime.

In February 2016, Burke pleaded guilty, and nine months later was sentenced to 46 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release.

Burke was released from federal prison in November 2018 after serving most of his sentence.

Suffolk police had arrested Loeb, a heroin addict at the time, on Dec. 14, 2012, after he was suspected of stealing the duffel bag from Burke’s unmarked police SUV in front of the chief's home.

Former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and top aide Christopher McPartland were later convicted of charges including conspiracy, witness tampering and obstruction in connection with the federal investigation of Burke.

The county paid Loeb a $1.5 million settlement over the beating.

Burke collects an annual pension of $145,485, according to state records.