Nine Long Islanders were arraigned in court on Thursday in connection to the horrific kidnapping and abuse of a 14-year-old girl following a scathing 75-count grand jury indictment accusing them of sex trafficking and rape.
Alton Harrell, 35, pleaded not guilty after officials identified him as the key in the sickening abuse of Emmarae Gervasi, who was missing for 25 days and was allegedly given drugs, raped repeatedly and had her body sold by Harrell and his accomplices, Newsday reports.
“This defendant set the entire chain of events that followed in motion by victimizing someone he knew as a child,” Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Dana Castaldo told the court.
Harrell, who prosecutors say had a sexual relationship with the teen going back to 2024, is charged with kidnapping and rape and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Along with Harrell, officials also charged Francis Buckheit, 64, of East Islip; Daniel Burke, 63, of Bohemia; Elizabeth Hunter, 34, of Islip; Jacquelyn Comiskey, 52, of Bellport; Robert Eccleston, 61, of Islip; Bunice Knight, 47, of Copiague; Kevin McDonald, 20, of Medford; and Ralph Knowles, 63, of Brentwood.
Like Harrell, the other eight defendants pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Harrell is accused of picking Gervasi up from her home overnight on Dec. 9 and bringing her to an abandoned house in his hometown of Bellport, where he allegedly gave her crack in exchange for sex.
McDonald is accused of sexually assaulting the girl in the back of his car and then taking her to a Bohemia motel after leaving Harrell’s house. He is charged with rape and misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child.
Burke allegedly kept the teen in his mobile home for over a day, and Buckheit was identified as the owner of the boat where Gervasi was eventually rescued from by her father, Frank. The two face the same charges as Harrell.
Eccleston allegedly kept and raped the girl in a detached garbage container between Dec. 10 and Dec. 13 before she was brought on board the 56-foot boat. He is also charged with second-degree kidnapping.
While on the boat, several men allegedly raped her, with Hunter and Comiskey accused of child sex trafficking.
Knight is alleged to have exchanged drugs with Comiskey for sex with the teen in his home on Jan. 2. He is being charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.
Knowles was charged with rape and misdemeanors for sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child.
Police arrested three other people involved in the case who were not named in the indictment.
They include Daniel Soto, a 36-year-old Bay Shore man who was cuffed for second-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child during Gervasi’d disappearance, and DeShaun McClean, 42, a worker who allegedly groped the teen while she was at a state mental health facility following the abduction in January.
McClean is charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a person incapable of consent and endangering the welfare of a child.
Rebecca Browell, 48, who shares an address with Knowles, was also arrested after selling drugs to an undercover police officer, according to Newsday.
Prosecutors accuse her of supplying Gervasi with drugs while also knowing she was having sex with adult men.
