Nine of the 12 suspects indicted in the high-profile human trafficking case of an East Patchogue teenager appeared in Riverhead court on Thursday, Feb. 13th. They are: Francis Buckheit, Daniel Burke, Jacquelyn Comiskey, Robert Eccleston, Alton Harrell, Elizabeth Hunter, Bunice Knight, Ralph Knowles and Kevin McDonald.
The defendants all pleaded not guilty, many of whom did so on the troubling grounds that their accuser—missing 25 days before being cinematically rescued off of an Islip Marina boat by her father on Friday, Jan. 3rd—was a willing participant.
"The complainant in this case was free to come and go at any point and time while she was staying on the boat. And she did come and go at free will while she was on that boat,” said Danielle Papa, Francis Buckheit’s attorney.
The 64-year-old owner of the Phoenix luxury yacht in question has since been slapped with kidnapping and rape charges. Reports allege that when Buckheit returned to the scene where the police had converged upon shortly after the victim's recovery, he claimed he “loved the girl.”
Papa claims Buckheit also believed the 14-year-old complainant was 19, before bringing her onto his boat to hold weeks of sexual and crack cocaine congress with many of his nefarious cohorts.
Thus far, Jacquelyn Comiskey, who placed the call that brought the victim’s father and police to the 56-foot boat, does not appear to have received good samaritan immunity. She was one of the two women of the nine-deep lot named in Feb. 13th’s 75-count issuance.
The 52-year-old may have simply been after the $15,000 reward money the victim’s outspoken, “Dr. Phil Podcast”-appearing father had been promising over social media.
Comiskey now faces child sex trafficking charges, while Elizabeth Hunter, a 34-year-old mother, was charged with child pornography for taking photos of the victim to promote her prostitutional services.
Three of the accused were remanded to the county jail that same day, while the six others on hand had their previously set bail increased by the judge.
A superseding indictment may come that includes the remaining three defendants in the case. This would include the Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center aide arrested earlier this month for sexually abusing the teenager at the facility on at least two occasions—per Jan. 13th and Jan. 28th—surveillance footage— after she was rescued.
DeShaun McClean, 42, was charged with criminal sexual contact with a person incapable of consent, and endangering the welfare of a child. He too pleaded not guilty and was released on $5,000 bail after his Feb. 4th arraignment.
He pleaded not guilty to the trio of misdemeanors at his Jan. 4th arraignment and was cut loose on $5,000 bail.
All currently remanded suspects have court dates scheduled for March.
"If we see someone who is a predator, abuser or drug dealer, they have a way of finding vulnerable people and exploiting them," said District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, who has yet to address the case directly but is nevertheless dialed in, given this statement and seminal general sentiments he has shared during the first quarter of his re-election campaign trail.
Plenty other Long Island leaders with crime containment sitting atop their priorities have publicly highlighted that Suffolk County wields the nation’s first and only local human trafficking unit—a same-breath testament to an epidemic grade-level issue plaguing the homefront.