Burkeen case: 10 years after scam began, it's time ex-assistant fire chief spill beans

For a while, I kind of felt bad for Brian Burkeen.

The retired Indian River County assistant fire chief was back in court last month for a hearing to determine whether his public defender for his second sentencing hearing was ineffective enough that he should get a third try.

From my layman's view, it looked like a pathetic attempt to get out of prison early amid a 12-year sentence, followed by 18 years of probation, for stealing about $300,000 worth of tires from the county (you and me).

I felt bad for the 60-year-old because he did not look all that well, almost 3.5 years after he began serving his sentence. I didn’t see his wife. Later, I learned the couple divorced in 2022.

Running into one roadblock after another

2021 suggestion: Time for ex-chief Brian Burkeen to come clean about ripping off county taxpayers

More: Ex-assistant chief Burkeen wins legal battle, faces competency question in stolen-tire case

Adding insult to injury: Top county employee charged with stealing your money; now you'll pay for his defense

I felt a little sorry for Burkeen because at the outset of his hearing, Circuit Judge Victoria Griffin would not let him plead one of his arguments: that hearsay is not allowed in sentencing hearings. Burkeen’s lawyer, Ed Abare, told Griffin he could not in good faith make the argument because he disagreed with his client’s position (so did the prosecution and its attorney-witnesses). Abare was Burkeen’s second lawyer in his latest effort at post-conviction relief, having separated from James Long in 2023

Burkeen’s other arguments were meticulously rebutted in testimony Assistant State Attorney Bill Long elicited from Michelle Rhodeback, Burkeen’s former public defender, and Lev Evans, who prosecuted the case and urged Circuit Judge Dan Vaughn to impose a longer prison term than the 21-month minimum cited in state sentencing guidelines.

In defending her efforts to help Burkeen at sentencing, Rhodeback testified she could make no good faith argument to ask Vaughn to recuse himself. She also said she found no victims who preferred to keep Burkeen’s sentence short so he could get out of prison and pay them back.

And while Long’s summation in a 75-minute hearing was succinct, I’ve never heard one shorter than Abare’s: maybe 30 seconds, in which he urged Griffin to let the record speak for itself.

To add injury to insult, Burkeen arrived at the county jail Sept. 25 for the hearing, meaning he lost prison “gain time” that would shorten his prison stay. Burkeen had wisely asked to Zoom into the proceedings from prison.

I feel a little bad because I remember the sharp Sebastian City Council member and second-in-command at the fire department who, while not the rank and file’s favorite boss, seemed to have a lot on the ball.

Then again, Burkeen made his own choices when it came to the tires.

Arrest, prosecution shocking from the outset

I can’t forget the $107,000-a-year administrator’s arrest in March 2018 ― six weeks after retiring with a valuable pension and taking home about $35,000 in unused vacation and sick time ― and the unrebutted allegations that followed.

Burkeen was accused of ordering about $300,000 in tires from Vero Beach Goodyear stores between June 2014 and February 2018, billing them to the county, then selling them via word of mouth and online advertising, using the alias Percipher Pucklebrush. The purchases included 984 tires for $215,000 his last year on job, TCPalm files show.

Then, after hiring private attorney Andrew Metcalf to represent him, Burkeen asked for a public defender, claiming he had assets of only $5 in cash and $39 in the bank, along with liabilities of $46,000. His take-home income was only $230 a week.

By 2019, Burkeen said he suffered injuries in a car crash that left him unable to remember things. He sought to be found unfit for trial.

Instead, a psychologist found Burkeen was “malingering,” exaggerating psychological problems and “attempting to feign" memory lapses. Vaughn ruled Burkeen fit to stand trial.

In 2020, Burkeen pleaded no contest, probably figuring that with no criminal record, Vaughn would go easy on him.

Burkeen's 'understatement of the year'

Vaughn heard testimony from Jason Brown, the county administrator, who wanted Burkeen punished. After all, Brown said, Burkeen stole from an agency that had been cut to the bone during a recession and did not have enough money at one point to fix a broken-down ambulance or give raises.

After the sentencing, an error was discovered in a presentence investigation. Burkeen was resentenced Feb. 19, 2021, pleading for less incarceration in a woe-is-me statement noting how he’d found the Bible; the rapes, drugs and other ills of prison, and how he was “in constant fear of walking on the compound.”

“This could happen to any one of us or one of our family members in the blink of an eye. It was just a bad decision,” he told Vaughn. "Your honor, I'm not a bad person, I’m a bad decision maker.”

In a 2021 column, I called those last five words the “understatement of the year.”

Burkeen didn’t persuade Vaughn, who gave the former assistant chief the same sentence he had the first time. The Florida Department of Corrections lists his release date as July 8, 2031.

How’s a 67-year-old indigent ex-con going to get a job to pay back about $300,000 in restitution, plus court fees, knowing that if he misses a payment, he could end up back in prison for violating probation? His state pension was forfeited because of his conviction.

And while Burkeen has apologized to the county, said if he got out sooner he’d make restitution, and has been ― by his accounts and that of Abare ― a decent guy, Burkeen still has some explaining to do.

Still waiting for clear explanation of what happened

Why did he do what he did? How was he able to get away with it all without his boss, John King, who retired not too long after Burkeen, finding out for all of those years? After all, investigators said Burkeen was ordering tires that did not even fit on county vehicles.

Edward Halsey, director of internal audits for the county, said there was one factor that enabled Burkeen to succeed.

"That factor was a total lack of oversight coupled with unfettered trust by his superior," Halsey wrote.

King, though, was the one who eventually found the fraud, investigators said.

I don’t know what Griffin will do with the case: Abare and Long had 45 days to file proposed orders.

If I were Burkeen, I’d come up with a Plan B:

Wrack your brain. Fess up, in detail, about what happened. What would you suggest the county do to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

Why, exactly, did you do it? Be honest. Where did the money go?

If Burkeen really has a mental illness, he should be willing to talk about it to help others.

I suggested all of this in 2021.

I’m still all ears.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.

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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: I felt bad for Burkeen; reality is ex-Indian River honcho owes us more