Francis Buckheit, accused of rape and kidnapping in Patchogue missing girl case, wants charges dismissed, court records show

The East Islip man accused of raping and kidnapping a 14-year-old Patchogue girl on his yacht in 2024 is seeking a dismissal of the charges against him, court records show.

Francis Buckheit, 66, made his request this week in the form of a motion that also seeks to suppress statements he made to police and evidence seized from his vessel in January 2025.

The filing comes two weeks after acting state Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis held a conference with each of the remaining defendants charged in an 83-count indictment related to the girl’s high-profile disappearance. Wilutis asked at the July 28 conference that attorneys for the nine defendants move on any outstanding pretrial issues in an effort to advance the case to trial early next year, attorneys said following the brief proceeding.

Newsday is not naming the girl, now 16, because she is a minor and the victim of alleged and adjudicated sex crimes.

Buckheit is seeking a dismissal of the charges against him, including counts of child sex trafficking and child pornography, arguing that the prosecution’s presentation to the grand jury was improper and insufficient. He is also alleging his statements made to police were involuntary.

“The defendant was not read his constitutional rights/warnings prior to his custodial interrogation,” defense attorney Danielle Papa, of Hauppauge, wrote in Wednesday’s motion.

An omnibus motion is a standard pretrial filing in New York criminal cases that combines multiple legal challenges, including requests to dismiss charges, suppress evidence or hold constitutional hearings.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the filing, saying it would respond in court.

Among the wide range of legal challenges contained in the motion, Papa alleges prosecutors have failed to show how her client abducted or confined the girl, core statutory elements of first-degree kidnapping, arguing that she spent time with other men before arriving at his yacht and was often in public with other adults away from Buckheit and the marina where his boat was docked.

Papa also alleged prosecutors asked leading questions during their grand jury presentation and prejudiced her client by introducing evidence invoking sympathy for the girl. Specific allegations regarding the grand jury proceeding, which is held in strict confidence, were redacted from a copy of the motion Newsday received from the court.

The filing additionally challenges search warrants and conflicting statements regarding how Buckheit's cellphones were seized.

"It’s major issues of fact with respect to what they’re saying," Papa said.

Buckheit’s legal challenge follows a similar motion filed in April by a lawyer for co-defendant Alton Harrell, the man accused of luring the girl from her home on Dec. 10, 2024.

Harrell, 37, of Bellport, who is also facing rape and kidnapping charges, is also asking the judge to dismiss the charges against him and to suppress statements he made to his mother while alone inside a police interrogation room. The filing alleges Harrell made potentially incriminating statements in a conversation with his mother that was recorded by law enforcement and argues those remarks should be excluded under parent-child privileges.

“This action by police is tantamount to eavesdropping,” attorney Jeremy Scileppi, of Commack, wrote in the April 16 motion. “There was no police officer or detective who was a party to that conversation, but there was a listening device in that room and a camera recording everything.”

Wilutis has reserved decision on the requests made by Harrell, who is scheduled to return to court Monday.

Harrell is the only defendant who knew the girl before her disappearance, according to prosecutors, who have said he “set the entire chain of events that followed in motion by victimizing someone he knew as a child.”

After spending one night in a vacant house with Harrell, the girl moved to multiple other locations before ending up on Buckheit’s yacht on Dec. 13, 2024. She was found aboard the vessel by her father on Jan. 3, 2025.

Buckheit and other adults are alleged to have had sex with the girl and to have traded her with other men for drugs and money and to settle drug debts.

Buckheit, Harrell and co-defendant Daniel Burke, 65, of Bohemia, are all facing a top charge of first-degree kidnapping, which carries a potential life sentence in New York. Robert Eccleston, 62, is facing up to 25 years in prison for second-degree kidnapping. The four men, who are also facing a wide range of additional felony charges, are each alleged to have held the girl overnight at times during her disappearance.

Two women, Elizabeth Hunter, 36, of Islip, and Jacquelyn Comiskey, 53, of Bellport, who spent time on the yacht with Buckheit and the girl are facing a top charge of child sex trafficking, for allegedly enticing men to have sex with the girl, among other charges.

Daniel Soto, 38, of Bay Shore; Anthony Wright, 42, of Amityville; and Bunice Knight, 49, of Copiague, are facing second-degree rape and other charges for allegedly trading drugs for sex with the girl. Knight has filed a pending motion seeking a separate trial only for drug charges his attorney has argued have no connection to the girl.

A 10th defendant, Ralph Knowles, 64, of Brentwood, who is charged with attempted rape, informed the judge in July that he intends to plead guilty Sept. 2. Terms of his agreement with prosecutors were not disclosed publicly.

Kevin McDonald, 22, of Bellport, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape last year and has served his sentence.

To date, the charges in the indictment remain joined, meaning each of the defendants would stand trial together with the possibility of separate juries deciding certain aspects of the case.

Pretrial hearings for the defendants will likely be held in the fall.

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.