Long Islanders charged in East Patchogue missing girl case arraigned on grand jury indictment

Nine Long Island residents kidnapped, raped and trafficked a 14-year-old East Patchogue girl during her recent 25-day disappearance, a Suffolk prosecutor said as the defendants were arraigned Thursday on a 75-count indictment that laid out the most detailed timeline yet of the girl’s abduction.

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo told acting State Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis that county law enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service searched motels across the county and responded to potential sightings for more than three weeks before a defendant notified police and the girl's dad that she was on a 56-foot yacht docked in Islip Jan. 3.

"Instead of getting [the teen] the help that she needed, each one of these defendants capitalized on the vulnerabilities of this child for their own personal gain," Castaldo said at the arraignments.

Newsday has not named the girl because she is a minor and the alleged victim of sexual abuse.

The seven men and two women indicted each pleaded not guilty as the parents of the teen watched from the audience.

"You can't silence justice," the teen's father wrote in a statement to Newsday following the arraignments. Her mother and stepmother declined to comment.

Three defendants facing a top charge of first-degree kidnapping — Francis Buckheit, 64, of East Islip, Alton Harrell, 35 of Bellport, and Daniel Burke, 61, of Bohemia — were taken to the Suffolk County jail and are facing the possibility of life in state prison. The remaining six defendants, who face sentences of between 4 and 25 years behind bars if convicted, each had their previous bail increased. They are expected to remain in custody.

Bunice Knight, 47, of Copiague, who is accused of trading crack cocaine for sex with the teen, walked into the courtroom free on bail and left in handcuffs after Wilutis increased his $100,000 bond to $1 million.

"The idea that a person in this country could be charged with a crime, post bond and then come voluntarily for his arraignment with no more serious crimes being charged against him in the indictment, and his bail is raised tenfold is outrageous," Knight's attorney, Glenn Obedin, of Central Islip, said. Wilutis cited Knight's criminal history, which includes two prior felony drug convictions, and his potential to receive an enhanced sentence as a repeat felony offender as the reasons for the change in bail.

The nine arraignments lasted 2½ hours, and prosecutors described the teen as a "runaway," who was then kidnapped by four different men and raped by others as she allegedly was moved from Bellport to Bohemia before ultimately ending up on the boat in Islip.

Two of the defendants allegedly met the teen by chance encounter on the second day she was missing, according to the narrative shared by prosecutors, while most of the other interactions were the result of sexual and drug-related activity centered around the boat, owned by Buckheit and docked at White Cap Marina.

Prosecutors allege the teen was raped by all seven men charged in the indictment as she was trafficked between multiple other houses while spending each night aboard the boat with Buckheit. During the day, he took her to work with him as he made deliveries for a pool company, prosecutors said.

The ordeal allegedly began after the 14-year-old contacted Harrell, whom she had known for nearly a year in a relationship that became sexual, Castaldo told the judge. Harrell is the only defendant who knew the teen before her disappearance, according to prosecutors, who said Harrell did not know any of the other defendants.

The teen spent the night of Dec. 9 with Harrell inside an unoccupied house on Doane Avenue in Bellport, the prosecutor said. He gave her crack cocaine for sex knowing she was underage, Castaldo alleged.

The prosecutor said the investigation unveiled that Harrell told the teen he would take care of her so she would never have to go home, before picking her up at the house she shared with her dad and stepmom.

"This defendant set the entire chain of events that followed in motion by victimizing someone he knew as a child," Castaldo said.

Harrell's court-appointed defense attorney, Jeremy Scileppi, of Commack, said his client intends to "fight the charges."

Buckheit’s lawyer, Danielle Papa, of Hauppauge, said,  "We believe that the facts are being twisted to support a narrative that we just don't believe is accurate."

Castaldo said Buckheit told the teen he wished to impregnate her and take her on a boat to the Carolinas. He also offered her up for sex with another man to settle a debt, according to the prosecutor.

Cellphone evidence also shows Buckheit searched for articles that had the teen's age in them while she was still considered a missing person, the prosecutors said. Newspaper clippings about the case were also found inside Burke's mobile home following his arrest days after the teen was found, Castaldo said, and Knight was alleged to have made searches regarding how long it takes for rape kit results to be returned.

"[He also searched] 'If you have sex with an underage girl and she don't tell you her age, is that considered rape?'" Assistant District Attorney Zachary Kelly told Wilutis.

Prosecutors said sexually explicit photos and videos of the teen were found on the phones of Buckheit and Burke, who Castaldo said kept the teen for three days under "deplorable conditions" with "no running water" inside his Bohemia mobile home.

Elizabeth Hunter, 34, of Islip, who also spent time with the teen aboard Buckheit's docked boat at White Cap Marina, is alleged to have created sexually explicit content of the teen, which she "sent to several individuals offering [the teen] to engage in sexual activity in exchange for crack cocaine."

Jacquelyn Comiskey, 52, of Bellport, also allegedly traded the teen for drugs, the prosecutors said, including to Knight the evening before the teen was found. She had called the teen's father and police with her location. Kelly alleged those efforts were only made to secure a cash reward offered by the girl's father.

"My client denies involvement in any prostitution or arranging for prostitution," Comiskey's court-appointed attorney, Michael Elbert, of Melville, told Wilutis. "Upon realizing who the alleged victim was, she called police and the alleged victim's father, she stated the location and has cooperated with the police."

Hunter, Comiskey and Buckheit are all charged with child sex trafficking, according to the indictment.

Both women are alleged to have met the teen after she was allegedly brought to Buckheit's boat by Robert Eccleston, 61, of Islip, a friend of Burke, who kept the girl in a garage for one night and is charged with second-degree rape and kidnapping, prosecutors said.

Ralph Knowles, 63, of Brentwood, who is alleged to have sold drugs to Buckheit, is charged with attempted rape and misdemeanors for sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, court records show. Kelly said Knowles is expected to also face drug charges in a separate pending indictment.

Kevin McDonald, 20, of Medford, is charged with second-degree rape after he allegedly had sex with the teen in his car when she approached him two blocks away from the home where Harrell kept her for one night, Kelly said. Prosecutors said the girl walked away from that first house after Harrell left with her jewelry and did not return.

McDonald allegedly drove her to the Starwood Inn in Bohemia, where Kelly said security footage showed her knocking on doors before being ushered away by security. She later encountered Burke in a Handy Pantry parking lot nearby, the prosecutors said.

"He is truly innocent and he is definitely not a part of this," said Chiwanna Wells, McDonald's aunt, who attended the arraignment. "He don't do drugs. He don't deal drugs. Never has. Never been in trouble. Ever. He's always been a great kid."

Attorneys Melissa Aguanno for McDonald, Chase Brown for Knowles, Joseph Hanshe for Hunter, Oscar Crisafio for Burke, and Jason Bassett for Eccleston, all denied the charges against their clients and argued for lesser bail.

"Even the research and limited investigation that I've been able to conduct calls into question the people's ability to prove the charges here beyond a reasonable doubt," Bassett, of Central Islip, told the judge. "Bail is not supposed to be punishment."

Each of the nine defendants is due back in court in March. Three other defendants in the case remain charged in District Court in Central Islip.

With Shari Einhorn