(NECN: Alysha Palumbo, Wakefield, Mass.) – A Massachusetts man is facing disturbing charges. He’s accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen children, and prosecutors say this is one of the most troubling cases of abuse they’ve ever seen.
When investigators got a search warrant for John and Marian Burbine’s business and their home in Wakefield, they say they found hundreds of videos, photos and audio recordings of John Burbine sexually abusing more than a dozen young children, including toddlers and even newborns.
“The basis of these indictments is chilling and troubling,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone at a press conference Thursday.
Leone says 49-year-old John Burbine of Wakefield has been indicted on more than 100 counts of charges related to rape and sexual abuse of more than a dozen young children, including 40 counts of aggravated forcible rape of child, 17 counts of aggravated indecent assault and battery on a child, 12 counts of posing a child in a state of nudity, 11 counts posing a child in sexual conduct, 13 counts possession of child pornography, two counts dissemination of material harmful to a minor and operating an unlicensed child care program.
It’s alleged he and his wife, Marian Burbine, 46, ran Waterfall’s Education Center, a nanny and tutoring service, out of a Wakefield building, until it was closed in August for being not fully licensed.
The DA says that’s where John Burbine, already a convicted level one sex offender, was able to gain access to his victims.
“At least 13 child victims, male and female, ages eight days old to 3.5 years old,” said Leone.
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The indictment alleges the abuse happened at the victims’ homes or in their communities while they were under Burbine’s care as a nanny or tutor.
Marian Burbine was charged with reckless endangerment of children, Leone says, “because she allowed her husband John Burbine to care for children. Care for children despite knowing that John Burbine was a convicted sex offender and that the department of children and families had supported allegations of sexual abuse against her husband in 2005 and 2009.”
It was those failed charges that actually led to the district attorney’s office launching their own investigation into John Burbine. He was arrested back in September and indicted on December 6.
He is still in police custody.
Marian was released and has been under house arrest from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Members of the public who may have information that could be helpful to the investigation can contact the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office Child Abuse Unit at 781-897-8400.
Mugshot of John Burbine:
