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Burke, age 59, was arrested Tuesday morning, Aug. 22, following an undercover probe into prostitution at the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Farmingville, according to Suffolk County Police.
Park rangers wearing plainclothes busted Burke at around 10:15 a.m. Tuesday for “soliciting for sexual engagement,” Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.
“Due to the actions that I am not going to share, this individual was placed under arrest.”
Burke was processed at the 6th Precinct on the following charges:
- Offering a sex act
- Indecent exposure
- Public lewdness
- Criminal solicitation
Additional charges may be filed, Harrison said.
According to police, the ranger who arrested Burke did not initially recognize the former chief. Burke reportedly asked him, “Do you know who I am?” and attempted to get out of the arrest, saying it would be publicly embarrassing.
Burke led the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the largest in the country, from 2012 to 2015.
In May 2013, the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office began investigating reports that he had assaulted a suspect while the man was in police custody and later tried covering it up.
He pleaded guilty to reduced charges in February 2016 and served nearly two years of a 46-month federal prison sentence before being released to house arrest in November 2018.
Burke has been blasted for his mishandling of the Gilgo Beach serial murders investigation, having reportedly blocked assistance from the FBI for years.
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