"Federal judge calls plea deal too lenient for ex-magistrate; Man allegedly sought sex favors" by Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff | April 14, 2010
A federal judge rejected as too lenient yesterday a proposed plea agreement that would have sent a former Chelsea District Court clerk magistrate to jail for a year for allegedly using his position to seek sexual favors from two women facing prostitution charges....
Defendant James M. Burke allegedly told J.T. he would take care of the prostitution charges against her if she agreed to have sex with him inside an empty courtroom in 2005. He removed the woman from the lockup area, took her to the room and received oral sex from her, according to an FBI affidavit....
After her lawyer alerted the FBI, the woman began cooperating with agents and secretly recorded conversations with Burke....
Burke is also accused of threatening last year to lock up another woman, identified in the affidavit by the initials A.C., if she did not agree to his demands for sex. She acquiesced in the courthouse, according to the affidavit.
Did he make them swallow?
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