FBI agents arrest the former Suffolk County Chief of Police James Burkeoutside his Smithtown home on Dec. 9, 2015. They said he kept liquor in his office and regularly drove drunk. Burke . But, Wexler said, He also did bad if you were not on his side. Officers subpoenaed by FBI agents investigating the 2012 beating were brought in and interrogated about whether they had talked, prosecutors said. All Rights Reserved. As a result, officers working the night of the beating or heard Burke brag about it at a Christmas party stayed quiet for years, prosecutors said. Burke was officially hired by the Suffolk County Police Department in 1986 as a 21-year-old. He's remorseful.". Loeb later pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and was sentenced to three years in prison; he was released last summer. The Suffolk Police Department is proud to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Here is the full text of Burke's plea statement: "On December 14, 2012, I was the Chief of the Suffolk County Police Department. Conway argued that Loeb's account was less than credible. Burke became chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the country's largest suburban police forces, in 2012 after serving for nearly a decade as chief investigator for Suffolk County . Detectives and sergeants have been known to earn more than $200,000 a year. Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke apologized to his victim, the judge, his family and his Long Island community before being sentenced to 46 months Wednesday. Witnesses said the chief "went out of control" after the handcuffed suspect called him a "pervert" during an interrogation - punching, screaming and cursing and threatening to kill him with a heroin overdose. He had subordinates conduct surveillance on his girlfriends, prosecutors said. Steve Bellone was warned James Burke's past would lead to scandal It started with a duffel bag containing sex toys, cigars and a pornographic film. Welcome to the official website of Suffolk County Sheriff's Office. ABC7 New York 24/7 Eyewitness News Stream, beating a man who broke into his police cruiser in 2012 and then trying to hide the alleged assault. Loeb said at the time he required the walker due to dog bites sustained during his arrest. They said the former police chief had concocted a cover story and never admitted to the defendants he had assaulted the man who took his bag. Two Suffolk County criminal intelligence officers involved in the 2012 arrest of a Smithtown man convicted of taking a duffel bag out of former police chief James Burke's department-issued vehicle . Paying more despite good credit? He has asked for no prison time because he says his mother is dying of cancer. "There was a level of justice here and that even somebody as high ranking as the chief of police can't engage in that kind of misconduct and that kind of corruption and that kind of coverup and get away with it," said Loeb's lawyer, Bruce Barket. Burke, 56, who pleaded guilty to civil rights and conspiracy charges, was sentenced to 46 months in prison in 2016. A Suffolk County police scandal involving a beating and coverup now spills into the local prosecutor's office. My client denies all allegations. Then-Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke speaks with Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone after a news conference in Hauppauge on March 19, 2014. Credit: Ed Betz By Tania Lopez tania.lopez . He was released about 6 months early for good behavior, according to the New York Post. Bellone responded in a statement: I am not surprised to learn of these additional corrupt activities as this is why I fired Jim Burke and called on Tom Spota to resign for running a criminal enterprise. And from there, they said, it only got worse. Internal Affairs reports also found Burke had engaged in sexual acts in police vehicles and had a sexual relationship with "a convicted felon, known to be actively engaged in criminal conduct including the possession and sale of illegal drugs, prostitution and larceny.''. In a letter to a judge this week, prosecutors said "high-ranking officials'' from other county agencies helped Burke silence potential whistleblowers after he pummeled a heroin addict who had broken into his SUV and taken his gun belt, ammunition, a box of cigars and a bag containing sex toys and pornography. At that time I, along with others willfully used unreasonable force and slapped and hit this individual causing bodily injury. The maximum possible sentence for the civil rights charge is 10 years in prison; for the obstruction charge, it is 20 years. The coconspirators were not identified in the letter, but prosecutors said their investigation is ongoing. In Jan. 2017 Burke, who was sentenced to serve 46 months in prison, was transferred to the low-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.