Brentwood's Rebecca Browell, implicated in missing girl case, pleads guilty to charges in agreement under seal, attorney says

A Brentwood woman implicated in the sale of drugs to a 14-year-old Patchogue girl during the time she was reported missing in December 2024 has pleaded guilty to a range of charges in plea agreements made under seal, her attorney confirmed Wednesday.

Rebecca Browell, 48, had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of a child related to her involvement with the girl, court records show. On Wednesday, in a closed-door proceeding inside a Riverhead courtroom, she admitted her guilt in a drug case involving an undercover officer, defense attorney Pierre Bazile told Newsday.

"I can't really go into the details of it because it's going to be a sealed plea at this time," Bazile said moments before the courtroom of acting Supreme Court Justice Richard Horowitz was closed to the public for the purposes of taking Browell's plea.

Bazile later said his client will be sentenced at a later date, once other cases involving the girl are resolved.

Bazile said the courtroom was closed because of sensitive details in the agreement and the way Browell's cases are "intertwined" with a larger case involving 11 defendants accused of several crimes including kidnapping, rape and child sex trafficking in connection with interactions they had with the girl during the 25 days she was missing. He declined to discuss other specifics related to the plea agreements since the matters remain under seal.

Browell's case before Horowitz involves multiple felony counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance for her role in selling crack cocaine and heroin to an undercover Suffolk police officer in a sting operation launched after she and co-defendant Ralph Knowles were implicated in the missing girl case.

Knowles, 63, who lived with Browell, pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance in the drug case in a proceeding held in open court on Nov. 13, 2025. He will serve 7 years in state prison on the drug charges, prosecutors said at the time.

Knowles is due back in court March 11 on an attempted rape charge, part of the large-scale indictment involving the Patchogue girl. His attorney, Chase Brown, of Central Islip, declined to comment on the status of that case Wednesday.

Browell and Knowles were charged in February 2025 following the undercover sting, which prosecutors said was launched after the couple provided the girl with crack cocaine on multiple occasions while she was being held on a 56-foot luxury yacht docked in Islip. A police search of their home yielded cocaine, fentanyl and heroin, as well as a digital scale and packaging material typical for drug sales, prosecutors said at the time.

Charging documents revealed Browell knew the girl was underage and having sex with adult men. Knowles was accused of forcibly touching the girl, pushing her down on a couch and asking her to perform oral sex, which she declined to do, prosecutors said.

Knowles visited the yacht, owned by Francis Buckheit, 65, of East Islip, to sell drugs twice a day during the three weeks the girl stayed on the vessel, prosecutors previously said.

Prosecutors have said the girl left her home about 5 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2024, and spent that night at a house in Bellport with 36-year-old Alton Harrell.

Harrell, Buckheit, and Daniel Burke, 64, of Bohemia, are all facing a top charge of first-degree kidnapping for allegedly housing the girl during her disappearance. Robert Eccleston, 61, of Islip, was charged with second-degree kidnapping.

Elizabeth Hunter, 35, of Islip, and Jacqueline Comiskey, 52, of Bellport, face child sex trafficking charges for allegedly trading the girl for sex with men in exchange for drugs and money, prosecutors have said.

Eight men, including Harrell, Buckheit, Burke and Eccleston, are accused in the indictment of raping the girl at locations across southwestern Suffolk County during her disappearance.

Kevin McDonald, 22, of Bellport, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape in November and was sentenced last month to 6 months in jail, which he has already served.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.