Ex-Suffolk police chief’s lewdness charges to be dropped if he stays out of trouble

A judge will dismiss public lewdness and indecent exposure charges against former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke — so long as he has no further run-ins with the law for the next six months — after prosecutors said they could no longer meet their burden at trial.

Suffolk County District Court Judge Eric Sachs ordered the charges dismissed on Wednesday under an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, conditional on Burke avoiding arrest before his next court appearance, now scheduled for Oct. 28.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said three park police officers involved in Burke’s August 2023 arrest resigned, including the officer who allegedly witnessed the criminal behavior, Newsday reported.

“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,” the district attorney’s office told Newsday.

Burke was arrested Aug. 22, 2023, at Vietnam Veterans Memorial County Park in Farmingville after park rangers said he solicited sex from a ranger during an undercover sting. He allegedly pulled down his pants, touched himself sexually and made a statement to an officer about performing a sex act, according to police records.

Burke’s attorney James O’Rourke said in the report that the Gilgo Beach prosecution of serial killer Rex Heuermann had delayed the case due to Burke’s close association with that investigation as police chief during the investigation into the murders.

Heuermann of Massapequa Park pleaded guilty earlier this month to killing eight women and is scheduled for sentencing June 17.

Burke served as Suffolk’s top cop for four years before his December 2015 arrest on federal charges.

He pleaded guilty in 2016 to beating handcuffed prisoner Christopher Loeb — who was accused of stealing a stash of pornography, Viagara and a sex toy from the then-police chief’s county-issued SUV in 2012 — and orchestrating a cover-up. He then served time in federal prison until his November 2018 release.

_{Top: James Burke (U.S. Attorney’s Office)}