Court official faces 2d sex charge

A six-count indictment returned by a grand jury in US District Court in Boston alleges that 42-year-old James M. Burke used his position as a clerk-magistrate at Chelsea District Court to extort sexual services from the two women and deprive them of their constitutional rights, "which includes the right to bodily integrity."

An FBI affidavit filed in court yesterday alleges Burke was "trolling for prostitutes" in Chelsea in 2007 when he met the second victim, identified only as AC, and later attempted to get sexual services from her "at a reduced rate or for free."

The woman, who has prostitution cases pending against her in Chelsea District Court, was at the courthouse again on Feb. 12 when Burke "threatened to lock her up" if she didn't perform sexual services for him, then forced her to the floor of the locked room and sexually assaulted her, according to the affidavit.

The indictment alleges that the assault "involved aggravated sexual abuse and resulted in bodily injury" to the victim.

The FBI learned of the alleged attack after arresting Burke on Feb. 27 on charges involving another accused prostitute, identified as JT, according to court documents.

Burke is accused of pulling that woman out of the courthouse lockup after her arrest on a prostitution charge in 2005 and taking her to an empty courtroom, where she allegedly performed oral sex on him.

The woman told her lawyer about the incident last December when they were at the court, and Burke again allegedly offered to help her get the charges against her dismissed in exchange for sex. The lawyer alerted the FBI, which launched an investigation and secretly recorded several conversations between Burke and the woman.

During a Dec. 8, 2008, call, Burke said he and the woman were able to have sex undisturbed in the courtroom in 2005 "because it was late in the day and the only judge left was not going to go downstairs," according to another affidavit filed in the case.

In one conversation, Burke asked the woman whether she thought it was "hot" that they had sex in a courtroom and told her, "It's good because it's like it's so bad," the earlier affidavit says.

Burke is the second public official to be charged as a result of the woman's cooperation with the FBI. In an unrelated case, former Boston police officer Michael LoPriore was sentenced to a year in prison in 2007 after pleading guilty to depriving the woman of her rights by coercing her to perform sex on him in September 2004, while he was off-duty.

Burke, who was suspended without pay from his $84,869-a-year job after his arrest two months ago, is scheduled to be arraigned today at federal court in Worcester, where the magistrate assigned to his case is sitting today.

Boston attorney Robert Sheketoff, who is representing Burke, declined to comment on the charges but blasted the US attorney's office for issuing a press release on the indictment.

"I think it's outrageous, and hopefully a new administration will have a new, enlightened policy about the presumption of innocence," Sheketoff said.

The press release indicates that the details in the indictment are allegations and that the "defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law."