Disgraced Ex-NY Police Chief Who Led Original Gilgo Beach Murder Investigation Arrested For Alleged Sex Solicitation

A former New York police chief with previous assault and solicitation charges once again has been arrested on sexual misconduct charges.

James Burke, 58, was arrested Tuesday morning after police say he solicited sex from an undercover park ranger, USA Today reported. He has been charged with offering a sex act, indecent exposure, public lewdness, and criminal solicitation.

Suffolk County park rangers were reportedly conducting an undercover operation after numerous complaints about people soliciting sex in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Farmingville. During his arrest, Burke tried to use his past law enforcement status to get out of trouble, the Associated Press reported.

Sgt. Brian Quattrini said that Burke asked the park rangers if they knew who he was and that this latest arrest would be a “public humiliation for him,” according to the AP. The ranger who arrested Burke apparently did not recognize him.

Burke was the Suffolk County police chief between 2012 and 2015, and oversaw the original investigation into the Gilgo Beach murders. Burke is largely believed to have botched that investigation by not allowing the FBI to get involved as soon as the bodies of four women were discovered near Gilgo Beach on Long Island.

As a result, many believed Burke may have been the serial killer, but another man has since been arrested and charged with the crimes.

In 2016, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in prison for assaulting a man who was in police custody. The man, Christopher Loeb, had stolen a duffle bag out of Burke’s car that reportedly contained sex toys and pornographic DVDs. The attack had occurred in 2015, and Burke resigned as police chief before federal prosecutors charged him with the beating and cover-up.

Burke’s probation for the incident ended last year, according to the AP.

Before becoming police chief, Burke had been in trouble for having sex with a prostitute in his patrol car. The link to sex workers was also used to try to connect Burke to the Gilgo Beach murders, but no evidence could be found linking him to the crimes.

The man who was arrested for the crimes in July, whom The Daily Wire is not naming due to a company policy that seeks to deprive mass killers of the notoriety they often crave, is suspected of committing the murders in his own home.

The theory is based on the fact that the suspect’s family was out of town during the murders, suggesting he may have lured the victims to his home in Massapequa Park, New York, a source involved in the investigation told CNN.

Authorities are operating under this theory, the source said, as they continue to search the suspect’s home for trace evidence of the victims. Killing them at his own home would have allowed him to control the environment while having easy access to the materials that were found along with the victims at Gilgo Beach on Long Island, such as tape and burlap bags.