EXCLUSIVE: Ex-escort reveals how disgraced Gilgo Beach cop James Burke ‘forced her into rough oral sex’ and then threw money at her in ‘bizarre’ encounter
- The woman, 25 at the time, detailed the experience she had with Burke, 59
- It took place during summer 2011 at a party she went to with college friends
- She describes the disgraced cop as arrogant, aggressive and entitled
A former escort claims the ex-Suffolk County police chief accused of bungling the Gilgo Beach investigation ‘forced her into rough oral sex’ before throwing money at her at a cocaine-fueled party.
LeAnn – who does not want to disclose her real name – told DailyMail.com she first met disgraced former cop James Burke at a party she went to with college friends in summer 2011.
She says the gathering was held at a home in the exclusive community of Oak Beach, in Suffolk County, New York, and turned sour when Burke acted arrogant, aggressive and entitled.
LeAnn, 25 at the time, has spoken out weeks after the 59-year-old Burke was arrested and charged for soliciting sex from an undercover park ranger last month at the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park in Farmingville.
LeAnn does not know who was hosting the soiree, but claims Burke was there with another man who also held a prominent position in the county. She does not want to disclose his identity over concerns for her safety.
Pictured: LeAnn, who does not want to disclose her real name, told DailyMail.com that she first met Burke at a party that she went to with a a few college friends in the summer of 2011
Pictured: the former Long Island police commissioner James Burke who bungled the investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killer led a double life that allegedly included smoking crack, cross-dressing and engaging in relationships with prostitutes
Homes in the exclusive community of Oak Beach, a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay. The community is part of the village of Babylon in Suffolk County
The beachfront homes on Oak Beach West (pictured) and the site where Burke and LeAnn met during a house party
LeAnn recalled that August summer night, when Burke was only months away from being appointed Suffolk County Police Chief.
‘They were flirting with us and I knew that he (Burke) was important.’
Unimpressed with his appearance, LeAnn, who describes herself as tall, said Burke was ‘short and fat’ and had a head of white hair. She said the pair made small talk about vacation of his and her being a student.
Then Burke made his move.
‘We went to a bathroom and he tried to make me give him oral sex,’ she said. ‘I felt like he was choking me with his penis…it was bizarre.’
‘I just remember it causing me to tear up because he was that aggressive … and then he gave me money. I remember the bills. I don’t know if it was a $100 or $200. He just handed it to me and that was it.’
‘It was degrading,’ she added.
She described Burke as ‘pompous, arrogant and aggressive’ and called the encounter ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘off-putting.’
He was ‘dismissive’ after their exchange, she said and she was worried by ‘the ease with which he was aggressive.’
‘He acted entitled … very entitled …seemed to think that he could do anything.’
LeAnn sought legal counsel after her one night with Burke. Her attorney John Ryan convinced her to go public with her bombshell allegations about police corruption, and held a press conference.
On Friday, Ryan told DailyMail.com that his client’s claim was the first time there had been an actual connection between Burke, sex parties, drugs and prostitution on Oak Beach.
The veteran attorney explained that for years there have been talk of the drug-fueled wild parties taking place at the Oak Beach community.
‘These are not your normal people,’ he said. ‘There were sex parties, naked parties.’
Burke pictured in 2015 outside an FBI office in New York after he was arrested and charged for beating a thief who took a bag of porn and sex toys from his cop car then trying to cover up the attack
Attorney John Ray, who represents two families of victims whose bodies were found along the beach between 1996 and 2011, told DailyMail.com in July when DailyMail.com revealed Burke’s deviant lifestyle that he had a ‘real devotion for advancing prostitution in his own backyard’
Pictured: Shannan Gilbert disappeared in May 2010. She was last seen running in fear from a client’s house in the eastern part of the Oak Beach community. Her remains were later found in December 2011. Her case remains unsolved
An aerial view of the houses that are located in the gated community of Oak Beach in Suffolk and last known place Shannan Gilbert, a 27-year-old sex worker, was seen
In 2011 Burke was on top of the world – about to be promoted from his role as chief of detectives to Suffolk County Police Chief, to which he was appointed in 2012 by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.
He was tasked with supervising the Gilgo Beach serial killings investigation, but was accused of botching it by preventing the police department from cooperating with federal authorities.
That same year, he brutally assaulted a man identified as Christopher Loeb who broke into Burke’s police vehicle and stole a bag that contained sex toys and pornography.
His reign as Suffolk’s top cop ended in 2015 when he resigned just before federal prosecutors charged him in the beating of Loeb and the department cover-up. He pleaded guilty, and was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and violating Loeb’s civil rights.
The eastern part of the, the Oak Beach Island Association, is gated and the western part is not
In 2016, he was sentenced to 46 months behind bars. He was released in April 2019.
It was later revealed that Burke led a double life that allegedly included smoking crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes.
Attorney John Ray, who represents Shannan Gilbert’s family, told DailyMail.com in July when portions of Burke’s deviant lifestyle were exposed that he had a ‘real devotion for advancing prostitution in his own backyard’.
‘He was investigating sex workers like a robber investigates robbers,’ Ray said.
At the house party, LeAnn witnessed Burke grabbing another girl by the hair.
‘He pulled her to the ground. It seemed like they were playing but then he went too far …too aggressive with it. He thought it was funny, she said. ‘What normal person thinks this was an acceptable level of hair pulling to be funny?
She added, ‘Hah and not funny.’
The community of Oak Beach made headlines after the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a 27-year-old sex worker from Jersey City.
Gilbert was last seen running in fear from a client’s house in the gated Oak Beach community on May 1, 2010.
During the search for Gilbert police found other victims, who later became known as the ‘Gilgo Four,’ Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Megan Waterman, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. All the young women were sex workers in their twenties whose bodies were wrapped in burlap and found along Ocean Beach Parkway.
Gilbert’s remains were found more than a year later, December 2011, in marsh a few miles from the gated community where she was last seen. The cops deemed her death as ‘accidental’ but Ray disputed those claims.
In May 2022, Ray released the 911 tape to DailyMail.com of Gilbert screaming for help and running from what appears to be her killer. The same tapes officials tried to withhold for years.
As of today, Shannan Gilbert’s case continues to remain unsolved.
Pictured: The Gilgo Four: Melissa Barthelemy, top left, Amber Costello, top right, Megan Waterman, bottom left, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Authorities on Long Island continue investigate the Gilgo Beach murders
Suspect Rex Heuermann, arrested on July 13 and charged with the murder of three women
Earlier this summer, 59-year-old architect Rex Heuermann was charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
He is also the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth woman Maureen Brainard-Barnes – who was last seen alive in New York City in early June 2007.
LeAnn told DailyMail.com that she has been following the Gilgo Beach case for years.
When she went to Oak Beach on that summer August night she had no idea that a girl named Shannan Gilbert had gone missing and was last seen at the gated community of Oak Beach, not far from the house that she was partying at with Burke, on Oak Beach West.
Though she has heard many different theories through the years on the Gilgo killings, she said that does not believe that Burke has any connection to Heuermann.
‘I don’t think Burke is a murderer. I just don’t,’ she said.
‘I think he’s an arrogant, stupid ass**** who wields power with irresponsibility but I don’t think he’s a murderer.’
On August 22, Burke was arrested for allegedly offering oral sex to a male undercover park ranger. He was detained and charged with offering a sex act, public lewdness, indecent exposure and criminal solicitation.
The former top cop was accused of pulling down his pants and displaying his genitals, as well as manipulating them in a sexual manner. He then reportedly told the undercover ranger, ‘I like sucking d***.’
Last week two of the four charges were dropped, but he still faces charges of indecent exposure and public lewdness, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Executive’s office told DailyMail.com.
Burke, who appeared humiliated after the incident, never returned to his three-bedroom home in Smithtown. A neighbor told DailyMail.com that he wasn’t around until his court date but said he was ‘doing okay’ and called him a ‘good guy.’
On Monday, he is expected back in Central Islip court.
LeAnn said when she heard the news about Burke’s perverse behavior at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park she was ‘not surprised.’
‘Someone like him is just going to continue to take risks because he thinks that he can,’ she said.
‘How dumb do you have to be to do that after this guy (Rex Heuermann) gets arrested? Like, how f*****g stupid!’
A photo of the thick marsh that surrounds the beachfront property of Oak Beach
The homes in Oak Beach are in close proximity to Oak Beach Road and parallel to the Ocean Parkway highway
Suffolk County Police Executive Steve Bellone (pictured) appointed Burke as Suffolk County Police Chief in 2012
She described herself back then as a ‘crazed lunatic’, impulsive and reckless after growing up in the foster care system.
At the time of her encounter with Burke, she was putting herself through college. She eventually graduated with a degree in forensic psychology and criminology.
But, her addiction to drugs caused her to spiral and she started getting arrested for a litany of assault and harassment.
‘I got arrested and actually got convicted on a bunch of things and when you have a conviction you’re not going to be able to use that degree, really.’
She said the night with Burke was also her foray into the high stakes world of fast money working as a ‘paid’ escort.
‘It was probably my first experience being paid,’ Leanne said, now 37. ‘I was not expecting that and it opened the door for that kind of stuff.’
By 2019, she was on a better track. She got out of the sex business and got sober.
Though she would not reveal what industry she is working in today, she said that she manages a team of people and that is happy and in a much better place.
She also said that her tryst with Burke on that summer night in 2011 was the one- and only time – she would see or speak to him again.
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